For some time i have been having a problem with my Mini shutting down unexpectedly. I have notes going back to December about this. I have always thought it was an overheating problem, but why? Did streaming video from the internet grunt its brain? That was often the circumstance that occurred to shut down unexpectedly. A couple of days ago I had a burst of enthusiasm (I'm subject to those occasionally) and decided to clean up the clutter of power cables behind my desk; I brought a nine-connector power strip. This required moving some stuff around in the back, and taking a look at the places where the sun doesn't shine.

The back of the Mini looked strange. There was a lot of lint and stuff in the vent slots. The light went on that perhaps they should be cleaned. I vacuumed the crud out till i could see darkness inside. I haven't had a shut down since. The dashboard iStat confirmed the CPU was running cooler.

Conclusion: All those with Minis or any other computer with vent slots and a fan (yes the Mini has one, though it is essentially noiseless), check for clogged vents. If they are clogged the CPU, etc. will overheat and it will shut down.

David Passell