2017 iMac display failure

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Level 1

41 points

2017 iMac display failure

Good day, I just bought a 21.5 iMac With Retina 4K display (2017) Core i5 3.40GHz on Ebay. It arrived in an undamaged box and looks in excellent condition. The computer boots up (I hear the startup chord) but the screen stays blank. I can connect an external monitor and that works fine. The Seller says it worked fine after he wiped the hard drive and reset the password. It runs Ventura 13.4.1 . I do not know if the Seller updated to this when he wiped the computer. Assuming he is honest, is it possibly an OS issue I could solve by going back to Monterey or re installing Ventura?

I tried the suggestions at If your Mac starts up to a blank screen - Apple Support but they did not help. But that's what gave me the idea it might be software related. Or is component failure more likely? "About This Mac" only shows the external display.

Thanks,

Hugh

Posted on Aug 5, 2023 11:10 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,490 points

Aug 5, 2023 11:15 AM in response to Hugh Piercy

Sorry, but it appears (no pun intended) that either the seller is not telling the truth, or that somehow the iMac's display got damaged during shipping.

Either way, you have two basic choices:

Try to resolve this yourself, or
Return the Mac and get a full refund.

Sounds like you already tried #1 when you followed the steps in the support article you referenced. However, you can still try contacting Apple directly if you still want to pursue resolving this yourself. To do so, simply select the "Support" link on the lower left-hand side of this forum's web page.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,516 points

Aug 6, 2023 9:07 AM in response to Hugh Piercy

Moving forward, please NEVER EVER buy a computer from EBay, MarketPlace, Craigslist etc.... If you want a used Mac, please only buy from Apple's refurbished section or if you cannot afford those, then buy from a reputable reseller such as Macsales.com.

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Answer 3

Hugh Piercy Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 13, 2023 10:45 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks for the reply. Sometimes I like to take a chance on humanity and it doesn't work out. But Ebay refunded my money so I'm only out the time spent. Still, I take your point not to encourge the scammers of the world by buying from them.

Hugh

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Answer 4

Hugh Piercy Author

Level 1

41 points

Aug 6, 2023 7:22 AM in response to Tesserax

Thanks for the advise.

I think I'll get my money back from ebay as the seller says he won't accept returns. Then I may look into replacing the graphics card or the display.

Hugh

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2017 iMac display failure

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