I have had ongoing issues with this since I bought my 2018 Mac Mini (Intel) and with every OS since then. There was a set of firmware updates in early 2019, and also in the Big Sur releases that helped, but the issue appears to be back for me (12.1.* and 12.2 public releases).
I have 2 X 4K Samsung screens, one directly connected by HDMI and the second connected through an OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock using USB-C(TB DisplayPort)-to-HDMI.
The only thing that seems to work reliably for me is to disconnect the dock monitor, then power on the computer, then reconnect the dock monitor after a successful boot.
If I have both connected when the machine is powered on, the internal HDMI fails to work - Every time. I have a Feedback report FB9845580 showing the Console Log errors when I try to connect the internal HDMI.
Once this happens, I have to shut down the computer, disconnect the external dock monitor, and even then the internal HDMI port doesn't reliably come up. When that happens, I must do a PRAM reset to restore the internal HDMI.
So my suggestion:
1: Disconnect any external dock you have after you power off. Then connect the HDMI and power on.
2: Disconnect external dock/ monitors. Connect the HDMI to internal monitor. Then reset PRAM. Hold CMD-OPT-P-R (all 4 keys) when machine is off. Power on machine. Continue holding all 4 keys until machine auto-reboots. Then release the keys. I found this was required in some of the earlier betas to restore the HDMI. Once it finishes booting, you can reconnect any other external monitors.
Also, please put in a Feedback Report so Apple Support gets the detailed log messages. Maybe that can help with finally resolving the issue for us Mini 2018 owners!
You should see Kernel messages related to IGFB in the Console log when the issue occurs.
Hope this helps.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Core OS
Tags: