Trying to resurrect a 2009 27" imac

Yes, recycle it! It's almost 15 years old, has zero value, parts are largely unavailable, it cannot run current version of Mac OS and the insides are brittle and easily broken. In short there is no reason to keep an unworking 15 year old computer.

Spend your time and resources on its replacement which would be a HUGE upgrade. A base model Apple refurbished Mac mini would far outperform your 2009 IF you were able to get it running.

Had you a symptom other than the curtain, I would have ideas. At this point all I can suggest is to open the RAM door, remove an reseat the RAM. Remove any dust bunnies hiding in the air vent of memory bay.

That's a very long shot.

The only known issue with the 2009 iMac 27s was many had a bad factory hard drive and those were replaced under a Repair extension program. That issue should not invoke the curtain.

My thoughts: If you've replaced all those components and it's still not able to take the OS. it's time to recycle it. You're beating a dead horse.

CPORet wrote:

Any ideas?

Recycle it at your local Apple Store, AASP or E-Waste Recycler.

Allan Jones wrote:

The only known issue with the 2009 iMac 27s was many had a bad factory hard drive and those were replaced under a Repair extension program. That issue should not invoke the curtain.

There was another known issue with the 27" Late 2009 iMacs. "Tearing" (it's been so long that I forget the exact visual description) of the screen.

This horrified me when it happened to my iMac right after I had spent a good deal of money to purchase it. As it no doubt horrified others. Apple released a software patch to fix the problem. Great in theory, until the problem came right back. I believe it was the second software/firmware update that made it go away for good.