Mac Mini not functioning [Resolved]

Support
1

Hi Chaps, I’ve been struggling with Roon and my Mac mini (core). It’s worked perfectly for 6 months, now it crashes after a short period.

To isolate whether it was the mini or Roon, I did a clean reinstall of Sierra and left it running to see if it would crash on its own. As all seemed well, I installed Roon, everything fine but after an hour my mini is crashed. There’s nothing else on the mini other than what comes wth Sierra.

Roon works fine elsewhere (isn’t it great- well done on the hard work) so there’s some chemistry happening here producing the wrong result. It could be the mini failing but it was very happy overnight with Sierra, and took a short period to fall over with Ronn installed.

I’ve done boring stuff, re-install etc, not sure what to do next. Crash logs? Not sure what to look for really, any tips? Sunday- sorry to disturb.

2

How old is the mini?

Have you run the diagnostic tests?

I guess it’s possible you have a memory issue, or perhaps a bad area on the hdd, but when you say it crashed what exactly does that mean, won’t boot? Won’t run roon?

3

Thanks Wiz, mid 2010, 64 GBish SSD, 8 GB ram. First Aid reveals nothing. Re “crash”, it will reboot and performs perfectly, loads Roon, it then plays for maybe 40 minutes then freezes. It freezes and is then unresponsive, spinning ball if the screen is still on, blank screen if not. The clean install was fine

4

If you loaded Roon fresh, it is probably doing the audio analysis again. Have you looked and verified that Audio Analysis is not running. If it is, turn it off, reboot, and then see if the crash occurs again.

5

I’ve used a backup from the previous set up, so no rescan, all tracks are available.I’ve just set it up for the third time, same result, plays for 30/40 mins then freezes. It runs fine on my iMac.

Cheers

6

did you recently update to OS Sierra 10.12.3? If so, try to revert to 10.12.2
The latest upgrade replaced the whole usb and networking system and other core features of macos wich can be the cause, specially with older hardware. Apple is not known for it’s outstanding backwards compatibility.

7

Try installing roon server which has no GUI and access the setup with another roon controller to see what’s happening. I have plenty of Macmini machines running roon bridge, but not the core setups

1.3 will re analyze all your tracks due to the R128 capability iirc. On a large library this will take time and the 2010 MM is not a screaming fast setup either.

8

Thanks Sjef, the problem started in an earlier OS, I upgraded to Sierra as a potential fix. I think it’s Finder that’s crashing but I don’t really know what I’m talking about…

9

Thanks I’ll have a play. It was quite happy with 1.3, all analysed and backed up.

10

I’ve had a play, set up Roon Sever, nice and clean but set it up by restoring from a previous backup. Could that be an issue? I though that’s what backups were for… Either, crashing Mac, play well for 30 minutes freezes. I can re boot the mini, it will run for 30 minutes then fall over. I know it’s just my set up but…Any suggestions?
Ta

11

The 30 minute timespan could be an indication of a hardware failure like overheating. Try check temperatures of your processor, ram, southbridge etc. Must be a app for that for osx.

12

Thanks Sjef, perhaps it is a hardware problem. I’d use Apple Hardware Test but I’m not sure if I can access it on a Mac mini (mid 2010) running Sierra. Still fiddling looks like it’s not a Roon interaction, just a tired Mac

13

Really good idea!

There’s a program that I use called “MACS Fan Control” that allows you to see the temperature values from multiple sensors on the board and control the fan. Very useful to see if something is running hot and also to make sure that the fan is working.

Does the mac lock up completely or do you just get the endlessly spinning pinwheel?

14

I have had a problem with a 7 year old laptop overheating while it used to run really cool. Turned out to be the thermal grease between processor and heatsink hard worn out over the years. After cleaning and replacing it (easy job) everything was running cool again. Not to say this is the same as your problem at the moment but it could be. Could also be motherboard capacitors, they don’t have eternal life either. Well hardest job is determining the fault in the first place. Good luck.

15

Thanks Andrew, had a quick use of MACS Fan control and the temps looked pretty reasonable, under 40 with the PS at 53. I dug out the instal disks and ran Apple Hardware Test. At first it froze, then second attempt it ran and found no problems. Just doing an extended test but doubt it will tell me anything. Looks like somethings failing but only part of the time. Maybe RAM and I have the original 1 GB cards but that’s not enough to run Sierra (apparently). Ill probably try it with one card in, see if there’s an issue there. Its more a spinning ball that a crash or panic (not that I know what Im talking about)

16

(mods, my title was imaginative and amusing, two things that make life coloured rather than black and white. Relax a bit… it’s not Hitchhikers…)

17

I have a mac mini running Roon Server as the only application running. Memory shows 4.91GB used, 3.5GB App memory. I strongly suggest you purchase 8GB of memory.

18

Dear All, for those following my minor concerns, perhaps with similar problems, this does indeed appear to be a hardware problem. Looks like the SSD was failing. So new SSD, (refurb off eBay, am I cheap or what?) and away we go. Thanks for all your input!