M1 Mac Mini Won't Wake Connected Displays, Some Owners Complain

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Some customers who have purchased an M1 Mac mini have been experiencing an issue that causes the machine not to wake a connected third-party display from sleep.

m1 mac mini vignette
This is not an issue that's affecting all ‌M1‌ ‌Mac mini‌ owners, but there are numerous complaints on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support Communities dating back to November when the ‌Mac mini‌ was first released. MacRumors reader gooimac explains:

My ‌M1‌ (8gb/256) ‌Mac mini‌ doesn't seem to want to wake my displays after its been sleeping. I have tried with 2 different displays with 2 different HDMI cables with the same thing occurring on each one. I am currently only using one at a time. I also noticed some pink squares/graphics glitches on the Big Sur boot/log in screen (with the coloured background, not the black and white boot up)

MacRumors reader Mike, who emailed us about the issue, has seen the same problems.

I have a new Mac Mini ‌M1‌ with 16 GB of RAM running Big Sur 11.2.3 and every time the computer and screen go to sleep, the computer will not be able to wake the screen up.

Actually, I get "No Signal" displayed on the screen after the Mini wakes so technically the computer wakes the monitor but it fails to send a video signal. The screen is a 34" LG Ultrawide 4K Thunderbolt. It wakes fine with my 2018 MacBook Pro so there's nothing wrong with the display itself.

The only way I can get the Mini to send a signal to the display is to unplug and replug in the Thunderbolt cable. Sometimes repeatedly. Obviously, this is not an ideal solution.

This issue appears to be affecting a wide range of displays that connect over Thunderbolt, HDMI, and DisplayPort adapters, but there are also plenty of people who are having no issues at all.

It's not clear what the problem is, but Apple has been looking into one ‌M1‌ ‌Mac mini‌ display issue that causes strange pink squares to appear on displays connected to one of the machines.

Apple is aware of the issue, and there could be a fix in the works that's coming in a future update. One solution for now may be to disable the feature that puts the ‌Mac mini‌ to sleep, but that's not ideal. The other solution is to unplug and replug in a display that's not responding after a ‌Mac mini‌ wakes from sleep, but that too is an inelegant solution. There appears to be no other fix available at this time.

Related Roundup: Mac mini
Buyer's Guide: Mac Mini (Neutral)
Related Forum: Mac mini

Top Rated Comments

brdeveloper Avatar
brdeveloper
12 weeks ago
The same happens with my 2018 Mini with Catalina. It's not a M1-only issue!
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anshuvorty Avatar
anshuvorty
12 weeks ago
This isn't just a M1 Mac Mini issue, this also affects the M1 MBA, which I have. I have to disconnect my Thunderbolt dock connection and reconnect it and then the display works perfectly again.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CC77 Avatar
CC77
12 weeks ago
If it doesn't wake a third party display, and Apple no longer produces any first-party consumer displays (I'm not counting a $5K Pro Display XDR as "consumer") doesn't that mean....it doesn't wake any displays?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djc6 Avatar
djc6
12 weeks ago
I've had this problem for years with my 2018 mac mini, on anything connected to the HDMI port. Both the 2018 and M1 mac mini use the same MegaChips MCDP2920A4 DisplayPort 1.4 to HDMI 2.0 converter chip inside.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
!!! Avatar
!!!
12 weeks ago

My Intel based Mini, just today, would not show video on the TV hooked to the HDMI port. The TV kept saying 'No Connection'.

I had to hold the power button in to shut it down, then hit it again, and then I finally got video. Weird...
My 2018 Mini does this all the time, if I'm gone for 15-30 mins it won't reconnect to the display after I wake it. That's why I no longer turn the display off unless I'll be gone for more than an hour. Thanks Apple.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PinkyMacGodess Avatar
PinkyMacGodess
12 weeks ago

The same happens with my 2018 Mini with Catalina. It's not a M1-only issue!
Mine too this afternoon. It's done it a couple times in the past month that I've had it. I've never had issues with earlier Minis I've had. I wonder if it's Big Sur?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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