2012 Mac Mini Warning

Posted on
Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:17 pm
CraigM offline
Posts: 578
Joined: Oct 28, 2007

2012 Mac Mini Warning

I wanted to warn all users of 2012 Mac Mini’s of a potential issue you may experience.

My 2012 Mini has been faithfully serving me and Indigo 24/7 for 7 years. So before upgrading to Mojave I wanted to extend its life by replacing any mechanical parts.

My list included replacing the HD with an SSD [cooler], replacing the fan [cheap insurance], and while I was in there max out the RAM.

I first discovered that I had a problem when I turned the Mini over and I heard a rattle. Upon opening it up to my horror both clip arms on the top [lower] RAM slot had broken off.

Upon inspection I can assume that heat and age took its toll. Those arms are so thin and flimsy, terrible design by Apple for not making a part that is meant to be flexed, more beefy.

The following is what I did to fix it.

• You will need ALL of the broken pieces, so carefully fish them out from wherever they fell.
• Hopefully they snapped far enough back that you have most of the plastic arm and the metal tip.
• Orient the pieces as to their correct factory positions.
• Apply a liberal amount of JB Weld 2-part epoxy. Don’t be shy, your are basically creating a new arm that will need to hold under flex.
• WAIT 24 HOURS! DO NOT BE IMPATIENT! If you rush this step and it snaps you may not have enough good parts left.
• If you applied a liberal amount of epoxy, you will now see that the memory chip, when folded down, will not pass by the inner sides of the arms.
• Take a sharp razor blade and carefully shave away just enough epoxy so that the chip will swing past.

At this point I felt confident that the repair would hold for the computers remaining life span, but I added one more step. Since the chip naturally wants to pop up and the only thing holding it down are the side arms, I added a backup hold down.

• Take 1/3 of a CD/DVD and insert it over the memory. The curve fits perfectly under the lip.
• Add a tiny block of foam on top of the CD/DVD.
• When you close the the Mini’s lid it will compress the foam against the CD/DVD, which will hold down the memory should it ever try to pop up.
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Posted on
Tue Feb 05, 2019 11:42 am
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18200
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: 2012 Mac Mini Warning

Nice hack, thanks for sharing.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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