Can anyone think of a reason why the power LED on the front of a MacMini would flash in the style of an LED on a network router. It isnt going faint or anything, but seems to flash in when the machine is in use (at full brightness). During sleep it flashes but less rapidly. In both cases there is no set tempo. Searched Apple for hours but cannot find anything similar to describe it.
I reset the PRAM but it hasn't had any effect. Think a PMU reset might be next.
It does look like it is trying to tell me something (hopefully not that the hardware is a bit flaky).
Regards Jason
On 2007-06-12 18:52:59 +0100, Jason j.m.williamson@redacted.invalid said:
Can anyone think of a reason why the power LED on the front of a MacMini would flash in the style of an LED on a network router. It isnt going faint or anything, but seems to flash in when the machine is in use (at full brightness).
I have an LED lamp that was left on for a very long time (weeks - it's an ornamental lamp) and an LED started to fail in it. The pattern is exactly what you're describing - seemingly random fluttering and flashing.
Hope it's something else.
Cheers, Ian
On Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:23:04 +0100, Ian McCall ian@redacted.invalid wrote:
On 2007-06-12 18:52:59 +0100, Jason j.m.williamson@redacted.invalid said:
Can anyone think of a reason why the power LED on the front of a MacMini would flash in the style of an LED on a network router. It isnt going faint or anything, but seems to flash in when the machine is in use (at full brightness).
I have an LED lamp that was left on for a very long time (weeks - it's an ornamental lamp) and an LED started to fail in it. The pattern is exactly what you're describing - seemingly random fluttering and flashing.
Hope it's something else.
Just out of interest Ian .. and based on some of the replies I got whist looking for a soft 'HDD' indicator because the iMini and some other Mac's don't have them, what does the 'on' light show that you can't see anyway? ie If the Mac is 'on' wouldn't you generally have a display and and if not wouldn't hitting a key / moving a mouse show that it was on or off (as it wouldn't wake up if off etc)?
I saw a nice little ePOS PC the other day that had not only the 'std' front panel power and HDD LED's but a network activity one as well. I want one! (well some folk get excited over a 'mobile phone' so ..) ;-)
All the best ..
T i m
p.s. Do Mac 'fanz' only buy pen drives / external drives that don't have activity LED's?
On 12/6/07 19:23, in article 5d86k8F33716bU2@redacted.invalid, "Ian McCall" ian@redacted.invalid wrote:
On 2007-06-12 18:52:59 +0100, Jason j.m.williamson@redacted.invalid said:
Can anyone think of a reason why the power LED on the front of a MacMini would flash in the style of an LED on a network router. It isnt going faint or anything, but seems to flash in when the machine is in use (at full brightness).
I have an LED lamp that was left on for a very long time (weeks - it's an ornamental lamp) and an LED started to fail in it. The pattern is exactly what you're describing - seemingly random fluttering and flashing.
Hope it's something else.
Figured it sounded a bit hardwary. Might ring it in when I go on holiday later in the year if nothing else plays up. As I can live with a flickering LED.
Thanks Jase
T i m news@redacted.invalid wrote:
p.s. Do Mac 'fanz' only buy pen drives / external drives that don't have activity LED's?
Nope - I have a 250GB WD MyBook with a two circular rings of blue whubby goodness.
Jim
On 12/6/07 20:18, in article C294B024.83CF%j.m.williamson@redacted.invalid, "Jason" j.m.williamson@redacted.invalid wrote:
On 12/6/07 19:23, in article 5d86k8F33716bU2@redacted.invalid, "Ian McCall" ian@redacted.invalid wrote:
On 2007-06-12 18:52:59 +0100, Jason j.m.williamson@redacted.invalid said:
Can anyone think of a reason why the power LED on the front of a MacMini would flash in the style of an LED on a network router. It isnt going faint or anything, but seems to flash in when the machine is in use (at full brightness).
I have an LED lamp that was left on for a very long time (weeks - it's an ornamental lamp) and an LED started to fail in it. The pattern is exactly what you're describing - seemingly random fluttering and flashing.
Hope it's something else.
Figured it sounded a bit hardwary. Might ring it in when I go on holiday later in the year if nothing else plays up. As I can live with a flickering LED.
Thanks Jase
Oh dear this hasn't gone well. Did the PMU reset from the Apple support pages, thinking, well that probably controls the LED. So now the LED doesn't come on at all, and the fan is permanently on at full speed. The machine is working fine, but obviously is noisy as a hairdryer, and something has gone amiss. Worse thngs to come I reckon.
Jase
On 2007-06-12 20:06:02 +0100, T i m news@redacted.invalid said:
Just out of interest Ian .. and based on some of the replies I got whist looking for a soft 'HDD' indicator because the iMini and some other Mac's don't have them, what does the 'on' light show that you can't see anyway? ie If the Mac is 'on' wouldn't you generally have a display and and if not wouldn't hitting a key / moving a mouse show that it was on or off (as it wouldn't wake up if off etc)?
I'm no fan of LEDs, it must be be said. For must machines it shows not too much other than confirms the device has power.
In my case it's a little different - the Mac Mini is used as a set-top TV box for Front Row, and also acts as my DNS server, postgresql server, iTunes video server/music backup device and iPhoto server. It has no screen other than the TV attached, and there's no keyboard or mouse nearby - if I need to use it in that manner, I use it via VNC. But for the majority of cases, piercing LEDs would irritate me.
I saw a nice little ePOS PC the other day that had not only the 'std' front panel power and HDD LED's but a network activity one as well. I want one! (well some folk get excited over a 'mobile phone' so ..) ;-)
Hmm. It can be useful. For example, the PC in my arcade cabinet never shows a normal interface, just the MAMEWah one so seeing if the disk is busy when I open the coin slot up can be helpful. Very rarely though - on the whole I never see the device.
p.s. Do Mac 'fanz' only buy pen drives / external drives that don't have activity LED's?
Neither of mine do, but then I do find the blue LED on the external drive a bit oversized as well. The lighting I prefer when working at night tends to come from nice Mathmos devices such as a Telstar Lava Lamp, and the lovely subtle glow of a Erol Airswitch (http://www.mathmos.co.uk/erol.html).
Cheers, Ian
Ian McCall ian@redacted.invalid wrote:
The lighting I prefer when working at night tends to come from nice Mathmos devices such as a Telstar Lava Lamp, and the lovely subtle glow of a Erol Airswitch
You want to get yourself a plasma ball, you do.
On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 08:26:45 GMT, PeterD wrote:
Ian McCall ian@redacted.invalid wrote:
The lighting I prefer when working at night tends to come from nice Mathmos devices such as a Telstar Lava Lamp, and the lovely subtle glow of a Erol Airswitch
You want to get yourself a plasma ball, you do.
And they're so cheap nowadays, even for a big one. I remember when I was a kid, I wanted one - even a small one cost something around £100. Far out of my reach. :-S
On 2007-06-13 09:26:45 +0100, pd.news@redacted.invalid (PeterD) said:
Ian McCall ian@redacted.invalid wrote:
The lighting I prefer when working at night tends to come from nice Mathmos devices such as a Telstar Lava Lamp, and the lovely subtle glow of a Erol Airswitch
You want to get yourself a plasma ball, you do.
I keep eyeing it, you know. It sits there, taunting me with its data destruction capabilities. On the one hand, instant annihilation of my entire store of information. On the other hand...shiny! Pretty!
It's a close run thing.
Cheers, Ian