Mac Mini TAOP--124 Hardware Test

Question

I recently bought a Mac Mini which I knew was missing the hard drive, so easy fix right? Whenever I start the Mac the fans are running really high and the odd thing is I can only start the Mac in safe mode otherwise it will go into a boot loop.

I did a PRAM/SMC reset, but no result. I performed an Apple Hardware Test and I got an error: 4SNS/1/C0000008 TAOP-- 124: Ambient Temperature Sensor

I tried to connect an other Mac Mini's sensor but that didn't work either. The thing is, the Mac runs from an external harddrive connected to the Mac through SATA to USB. It is missing the internal SATA. Can it have something to do with the missing SATA? Or has anyone else fixed this issue before?

Answer 1

It's not likely related your SATA drive because (besides it being specifically referenced to unencoded) decoding that error code tells us that it's the Ambient Temp Sensor.

• 4SNES = System Error
• T = Temperature
• A = Ambient

If it had anything to do with the drive, you would see an "H" in the code - like THxx)

This is something that you will need to replace.