Stepppy
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: iMac 27" Screen goes black repeatedly, but then settles for a while?

Hi

 

I have searched and found numerous posts which sound similar to mine, but none seem to be so bad. Its a long post, but I want to make I have given as much information as possible

 

My Energy Saver settings are default 10 minutes for display & computer sleep, but I always find the screen will go black for a period of time before it goes to sleep and normally when I go back to it I press the keyboard or trackpad and the screen comes back to life. However, this time it didn't. I tried everything I could, but in the end I had to hold down the power button until it turned off. Once I restarted it was ok again.

 

I didn't think much of it, but I researched and found lots of people had similar issues, but were mainly on MacBooks. I did find a post where people had set a hot corner to turn the display off, so if the problem happened again they went into the hot corner and then came out of it and the display would come back on. This stops the need for having to force the computer off. I set up a hot corner, just in case it happened to me again and I'm glad I did.

 

In the last couple of weeks the display has been going off at random whilst I have been using it, nothing graphic intensive, just web browsing. Going into my hot corner and coming out of it bought the display back to life thankfully. It was yesterday that things got really bad, to the point that the display was staying on for about 3-4 seconds before going off. Again, going in & out of the hot corner worked, but then it didn't. Initially I thought it maybe some kind of software issue, but when I restarted the grey screen would only show for about 3 seconds and then go black, so I didn't even see the Apple logo. I could hear everything start and it would pause at the logon screen. Going in and out of the hot corner several times finally gave me enough time to login before it went off again.

 

After logging in I got it back only for it to go off again. I tired everything I could to get the screen to come back to life but it didn't want to play. All the time everything was working on the iMac, it wasn't frozen and didn't crash, just no display. I did some research on my iPad and this seems to be a common problem in one form or another, but no one that I could see had it as bad as mine. Some people were saying it was software related, other that it was logic boards, but as I said earlier I think the majority of posts related to MacBooks and not iMacs.

 

This was my first Apple purchase and I feel like a fish out of water as I have always had PC's before and if they went wrong I just fixed it myself, but I don't think this is going to be the case this time.

 

Very late last night I managed to get the display on long enough to run iBoostUp and let it give everything a spring clean. It kept going off whilst it was doing its things, but I did manage to get the display back for long enough to shut it down fully and I left it unplugged over night.

 

It started working fine this morning, but after more reading I have reset SMC and PRAM as that advice seems to be given a lot when people are having problems.

 

I have been using it for roughly a couple of hours and it has just this second gone off for the first time. I did my hot corner trick to get it back, then about 3 sends it went again. Now it seems to be ok again. The only program running is Safari.

 

I am running Lion 10.7.4 with all updates done and I am not running Boot camp for Windows 7 I thought about doing a clean install, but I am not convinced that is going to work and don't want to go through all the hassle of that only to find it still does it! Taking it to Apple worries me, because as its intermittent it may not do it whilst they have it and also I am worried about all my personal data I have on it. Would they wipe the hard drive and would they access my files? I have never had this worry before as any PC problems I just switched problem items myself. The machine will be a year old in a couple of months and I am already thinking the AppleCare Protection Plus is a very good deal and a must have at £139 for two extra years warranty.

 

Any suggestions great fully received.

 

Thank you.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4), 12GB RAM 1TB, AMD Radeon HD 6970M

Posted on Jun 24, 2012 5:44 AM

by jjhaffner,Solvedanswer
jjhaffner jjhaffner
Level 1 (15 points)
A:

I picked up my iMac today from Apple. They replaced the LED backlight boards. I've been using it non-stop tonight (about 6 hours straight) and have not experienced any problems. Everything on the Mac is how it was, the drive was not erased for a Lion reinstall. So far so good. If it starts acting up, I'll post another update.

Posted on Jul 19, 2012 9:43 PM

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Q: iMac 27" Screen goes black repeatedly, but then settles for a while?

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  • by Winchy,

    Winchy Winchy Dec 22, 2013 7:14 AM in response to AlexJ2013
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2013 7:14 AM in response to AlexJ2013

    Means you are in the sane boat every one else is.

    Good luck getting it fix.

  • by Gotwqqd,

    Gotwqqd Gotwqqd Dec 22, 2013 8:43 AM in response to AlexJ2013
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Dec 22, 2013 8:43 AM in response to AlexJ2013

    I recommend bringing it back to Genius Bar

    They ran diagnostics on mine all came up okay.

    He then saw problem and ran different test and GPU IS BAD

    It's known issue so ask them to look up

  • by Winchy,

    Winchy Winchy Dec 22, 2013 12:55 PM in response to Gotwqqd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2013 12:55 PM in response to Gotwqqd

    Same here. They replaced the GPU. Screen problem persisted.

    Black screen once every two weeks.

    GBar wants to start replacing every part known to man on my dime until the problem one appears.

    Some Genious hey?

  • by ffloJo12,

    ffloJo12 ffloJo12 Dec 22, 2013 3:13 PM in response to Winchy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2013 3:13 PM in response to Winchy

    Ok so I've been reading most of the posts on this thread and I'm not really sure if my fix would be the same as yours.  Recently, my screen on my iMac 10.6.8, 19 inch screen I purchased back in 2008 (?) started blacking out momentarily ( a few seconds) it scared me.  Our daughter started looking at a Hulu movies website and I since reading your post I was curious as to whether continuous watchting (for over a month) would damage my video card on my Mac. I may have to contact Apple as well but wanted to know your thoughts on this. 

  • by JRenna,

    JRenna JRenna Dec 28, 2013 1:34 AM in response to ricardoh123
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 28, 2013 1:34 AM in response to ricardoh123

    I have this same issue. I purchased my Imac 27" from OWC and I am currently traveling on business but I will definitely le them know this is a common issue. They are really great.

  • by micfur,

    micfur micfur Jan 2, 2014 8:25 PM in response to JRenna
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 8:25 PM in response to JRenna

    I have the same problem. Late 2010, 27" iMac. Screen goes black. If I shine a spotlight into the screen I can just barely make out the desktop. Have to put the machine to sleep and wake. Can happen 10 times in a row. Then settle for a few days and then starts again.

     

    Apple are just ignoring this issue. What a sorry bunch.

  • by twech,

    twech twech Jan 3, 2014 9:57 AM in response to Stepppy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 9:57 AM in response to Stepppy

    Add me to the list.   Late 2010, 27" IMac.

    I found the power button off then on trick and have been doing that for months.    I reset the PRAM and that seemed to work for a couple weeks but the issue is seeming to become more frequent.

    I called for repair and this one is not covered under the recall.

    I also am very disapointed and can't believe Apple would do this to their loyal customers.   The quality of the products don't seem to be what they used to be.   I've been a Apple guy since the Apple IIc days and a former Apple employee.

    Sad

  • by twech,

    twech twech Jan 4, 2014 4:44 AM in response to Stepppy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 4, 2014 4:44 AM in response to Stepppy

    I have an update.   I had found another post stating the fan control program by SMC; http://www.eidac.de/ and it seems to have fixed my issue.    My system has been running with the fans on hi for over a day without even a dimming or blinking which had prior happened very often.  

    It's a free download and the fan noise is quite loud but better than the alternative in my opinion.

  • by HEATONRX,

    HEATONRX HEATONRX Jan 27, 2014 6:06 PM in response to Stepppy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 27, 2014 6:06 PM in response to Stepppy

    I have a 27" last 2009 iMac purchased in Jan. 2010. Will run for over an hour then screen goes black but keeps running. I have coonected to my screen via my Macbook Pro. Turning up the fans w/ SMC Software seems to extend the time. I am thinking of going to the G bar. Has anyone had luck with having them fix this? I don't mind a $200 bill but not much more. Maybe I need to junk my iMac. I guess I will bring it in and see what they say. I was wondering if anyone had good luck with them?

  • by AlexJ2013,

    AlexJ2013 AlexJ2013 Jan 28, 2014 1:39 AM in response to HEATONRX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2014 1:39 AM in response to HEATONRX

    I have been back to a apple repair centre a couple of times. They had my mac for a total of 3 weeks. They didn't see this issue there so couldn't do anything. They charged me only a low fee luckily. Now having the imac back again the black screen occurring was sometimes unworkable. Now I have the brightness all the way down (20-30%). This seems to keep the screen from not blacking out... Running mac in windows is still problematic. So in the mean time I have bought a new pc to work reliably in the windows environment. I can live with the imac on the low brightness. I will buy a new imac in couple of years time. Although this issue will restrict the resale value of my imac...

  • by micfur,

    micfur micfur Jan 28, 2014 1:57 AM in response to AlexJ2013
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2014 1:57 AM in response to AlexJ2013

    Its very shoddy by Apple to ignore this issue. People spend a lot of money on these high end desktop's. Its obviously a design flaw somewhere along the line. I will never buy Apple again. Not everyone will agree but in my mind they are a by word for cheap products sold at a premium rate.

  • by girlsonboard,

    girlsonboard girlsonboard Feb 9, 2014 10:04 PM in response to Stepppy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2014 10:04 PM in response to Stepppy

    Sorry if this is a double post, I'm not used to this forum:

     

    I've had the screen blank problem, took the IMac in twice, got home, still not fixed.

     

    But they used their own keyboard in the shop and couldn't reproduce the problem. I switched keyboards and so far so good.

     

    I'll keep folks updated. Don't get a new graphics card before you try a new keyboard.

  • by Adamglittle,

    Adamglittle Adamglittle Mar 2, 2014 9:37 PM in response to SkinnyStudios
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 9:37 PM in response to SkinnyStudios

    Hey SkinnyStudios,

     

    I'm now having the exact same problem you did with screen blacking out. I'm also a graphic designer and its driving me nuts! I installed the Smc fan and it worked for about a week. Did you ever fix this problem?

     

    Do you think design program's could be contributing? Like Illustrator?

     

    I would really, really appreciate any tips!!!!

  • by SkinnyStudios,

    SkinnyStudios SkinnyStudios Mar 2, 2014 9:51 PM in response to Adamglittle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 9:51 PM in response to Adamglittle

    Hi Adamglittle,

     

    Sorry no - I never did fix this issue. My current theory is that it has something to do with the sleep function, I try and reset this from time to time to combat the issue.

     

    My computer has been doing this for over a year now, it is out of warranty - so I just kind of work around it...

     

    I have found reseting the PRAM helpful from time to time, and it does seem less frequent, but always comes back - would be nice if Apple would chime in with some suggestions!

     

    Good-Luck!

  • by AlexJ2013,

    AlexJ2013 AlexJ2013 Mar 2, 2014 11:48 PM in response to Adamglittle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 11:48 PM in response to Adamglittle

    Hi,

    My imac was in repair for 3 weeks where the couldn't find the culprit. Mine still had the Same blacking out issues. Since I have set the brightness to half the blacking out has not occurred again. If I increase the brightness it starts again within hours.

    I have bought a new pc and use my imac only a tenth from what I was using it before.

     

    Best of luck with your issue.

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