HELP!! 2014 Mac Mini (bought new in 2016) - Sleepless in Des Moines!

[JaySeeDoubleYou]

Hi guys!

A few weeks ago, I used my share of the tax return money to buy a new Mac Mini. 2.8GHz i5, 8GB, 256GB SSD, El Cap, hooked via HDMI to a 23" 16x9 1080p Acer H236HL monitor, which in turn feeds to the subwoofer from a $100 circa 2000 Creative Labs 50 watt powered sub, with the sucky little cube satellite LRs replaced with $250/each circa 2005 Proficient CC525 3-way 5.25" dual woofer LCR speakers!

In general, I'm very pleased with it. But it has the WEIRDEST quirk: despite quadruple checking the settings to make sure they're all correct, the computer will never, and I mean NEVER go to sleep!!! Heck, it won't even go into screen saver!!! Furthermore, when I put the computer to sleep manually, which it WILL do, when I wake it, it will wake, but it doesn't wake the monitor in the process. I have to either turn the monitor off then back on, or unplug and then replug the HDMI.

This is such an amazing improvement over the computer it replaces and so I'm quite happy with it!.....other than this amazing, baffling flaw! So, can anyone help me with it? PLEEEEEEEEEASE??!!!!

Thanks everyone!!!!

Cheers!!!!

 

[JaySeeDoubleYou]

This computer replaces a very old 2009 17" MacBook Pro that also had a 2.8GHz dual core, but only a mere Core2Duo, 4GB and a 500GB 5400rpm HDD. Towards the end of its life I had converted to using it as a de facto desktop, tucked under the desk, hooked to the same monitor, speakers, and keyboard/trackpad that the new one is. It was also running El Cap, so in a very real sense, this Mac Mini is less like a new car and more like a new engine. In a manner of speaking it is very much EXACTLY the same thing as I had before, especially considering it's running most of the same programs, and most of the same files.

But on the other hand, even though this new mini is only a mid-power computer --- AT BEST, it is still so amazingly faster, and smoother, and altogether better than the old MacBook that it feels like a clunky, junky old fatigued leaky gasket 4-banger was replaced with a sleek, decked out ecoboost 6. I may be looking at the same dashboard, out over the same hood, with the old smells and gripping the same old steering wheel...but it's a STUNNING difference shooting down the interstate!!! And instead of feeling like I am riding on borrowed time like I was with the old one, keeping the essentially dead technically alive on life support, barring some kind of catastrophe, I am now good as gold for the next 3-5 years!!!

That's the good news. The bad news? I had hoped that I could limp the old Mac along for another two years or so before I replaced it, but it totally crapped on me just a week or two before the tax return came. I had not wanted to do this yet, but the decision had been made for me. My original plan was to spend about $900-$1000 for a custom built Windows 10 gaming PC. Then my plan was to buy both a Nexus 6p and a Google Pixel C. But it turns out neither one was to be. Instead, I've got a new Mac! Very bittersweet!

In the end, though, the happy news is that it's more sweet than bitter.