Chances galore went begging as both sides mastered the treacherous conditions but had to settle for a point.
On a frozen snow-covered pitch Mansfield squandered the clearer chances at the start of each half to claim their first home win of 2003 and ease their relegation fears.
But as Brentford finished the stronger, striker Rowan Vine twice went close to pinching a late winner to kickstart the Bees' play-off hopes. Vine twice sprung the offside trap in the final 15 minutes, but first lobbed tamely at the keeper and then with just Kevin Pilkington to beat he fired wide.
The Stags had brought in Preston full-back Adam Eaton just a few hours after he started his second loan spell at the club.
And the home side should have got off to the perfect start. In the third minute a mistake by Michael Dobson allowed Wayne Corden to cross from the left and when the ball fell kindly to the unmarked Liam Lawrence at the far post he skied his shot.
Two minutes later Andy White squandered an even better chance, heading a Junior Mendes right-wing cross wide from close range with the goal at his mercy.
Brentford always looked dangerous on the break and Vine's crisp shot was well saved by Pilkington before the keeper then raced across his goal-line to hang on to a curling free-kick from Stephen Hunt.
The home side again wasted a clear chance when Tom Curtis rounded keeper Paul Smith, only for Scott Marshall to head his cross off the line as White threatened to score.
But the home side lived dangerously at the other end when Hunt charged down Pilkington's clearance, before Matt Gadsby scrambled the loose ball to safety.
A minute into the second half, Mansfield's new £20,000 signing Mendes almost marked his home debut with a goal, only for his final shot to be acrobatically tipped around the post by the diving Smith.