iMac screen - big white strip appeared out of nowhere

Cadiz · 03-02-2010 11:44PM #1

Hi there,

I have an iMac, 6 years old but lovingly maintained.

So yesterday I was working away on it, and all is well. I popped off for a break (ok powernap, ok snooze).

Forty minutes later I return and there, right in the middle of the screen, is a big white verticle strip, right through the middle of the screen, about four inches wide. WTF??

It won't go away. What the devil is it? How can I get rid of it?

This baby is essential to what's left of my livelihood, boardspeople...

Help!

Sad Professor · 04-02-2010 02:07AM

It's almost definitely a hardware failure. Either a failing graphics card or lcd screen. Hook up an external monitor to find out. If it's logic board related then forget it, the machine is dead. Even if it's the display, I'm not sure replacing it would be worth it.

Cadiz · 04-02-2010 11:15AM

Sad Professor thanks for for the input, I very much appreciate it. That is bad news

Any idea why it might have happened is it just old age?

Sad Professor · 04-02-2010 04:08PM

Cadiz wrote: »

Any idea why it might have happened is it just old age?

I'd say so. 6 years is a great run though.

I'm not sure if there's anything else you can do.

lorf · 05-02-2010 03:46PM

thanks for info...

mailforkev · 05-02-2010 03:56PM

I agree with the above advice and feel your pain OP.

I have an office full of G5 iMacs here (well 10 of them) all just over 5 years old, and I've found that problems have began hitting them all in the last 6 months or so. Three have had the power supplies replaced, hard drive problem with another, flickering screen with another, along with a few other assorted issues.

The iMac, although lots of people use them for work, is basically a consumer machine full of laptop parts, so five or six years of solid use is pretty good going really.

Cadiz · 05-02-2010 04:21PM

Thanks for the insight mailforkev. Yikes, hope you can afford to upgrade!

I see from the contributions here that six years is probably pretty good but it's just bad timing. I used to have a mac laptop that lasted for ten years!

Is this one of the disadvantages of having most of the technology bound up in the screen or is that nothing to do with it?

Elessar · 05-02-2010 05:08PM

On the plus side, there are A LOT of benefits of upgrading that machine to one of the latest models. So many it's impossible to list them. If you can afford it, it's well worth the upgrade.

Sad Professor · 05-02-2010 05:19PM

Cadiz wrote: »

I see from the contributions here that six years is probably pretty good but it's just bad timing. I used to have a mac laptop that lasted for ten years!

Electronics don't last. 6 years is very good. 10 years is excellent. There's a reason extended warranties only cover up to 3 years - after that it's luck.

Is this one of the disadvantages of having most of the technology bound up in the screen or is that nothing to do with it?

Laptop components are tightly bound together. The heat eventually gets them. The iMac is closer to a laptop than a desktop. But 6 years is great regardless. You'd be lucky to get that from any computer. I've seen several big airy Dell boxes fail after a year. But that's Dell...

iMac screen - big white strip appeared out of nowhere

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