iMac 27" Black Screen?

Actualy 12 hrs now

I'm using my old keyboard from a PC that I replaced with the IMac. It's wireless but the signal is from a USB connected device and it's not Bluetooth. I removed the batteries from my Mac keyboard to assure it was off. It's the one that came with the IMac. You can turn it on, but hitting the switch again just turns it on, not off as far as I can tell. So I took the batteries out.

How are you typing with only a mouse?

I'd suggest waiting to see if the keyboard is the problem by buying one of those really inexpensive ones to use for a while before getting another nice one.

Also, I'm considering taking the keyboard in to the genius bar. Around here Apple doesn't charge for diagnosing, only for fixing if you are off warranty.

The more I think about it the more nervous I am to use the problem keyboard. I don't know if it's possible it might make the computer unbootable or unable to stay on long enough for me to switch back to this keyboard.

And speaking of that, do you have a model with the recalled hard drive? Mine was. That wasn't the screen problem but the hard drive was failing when I took it in. They weren't going to give me a free replacement because the window for getting a new one had passed. I put up a fuss and got the free hard drive replacement. After all, it was a recalled part.

Been using my iPad, a friend just dropped an old USB one off... Still going good ... I say don't use the faulty key until Apple does something, took batteries out of mine too, feel like taking a hammer to it for all the time I've waisted, apple store is an hour away from me, took computer in twice . I have the one with graphic card recall, but was told it was fine and that I had corrupted software... Erased drive for nothing... Hope Apple is reading our posts. Last week my screen went white and didn't reboot until I brought it to apple... Don't know how they got it going again... Probably got lucky

Computer just went to sleep... Almost had a heart attack...

Still going...

That's funny. Once mine took more than a couple taps to wake up and I got nervous. But it's still not repeating the problem. I found one other thread that mentioned the keyboard but the discussion wasn't complete enough.

I'm still debating if I want to take the problem keyboard into the Apple store. It's past the warranty. But it would be nice if they confirmed it was the problem.

Do it, might speed things up... If apple store isint to far from you

The store's close, but there's still the time issue. Why don't you do it? I came up with the possible answer.

Kidding of course, I wanted to tell other people what I found. I too went through a very frustrating process with the Apple store. A 27 inch IMac is not easy to take in and taking it in twice was not pleasant, especially when the problem recurred the third time. I had to get my son to help me. And I didn't have the extra time it took but there's little choice. I need my computer. I'm writing a book, and I use it in my business.

If you go three days without a recurrence and I'm at six days by then I'm going to say the evidence is overwhelming. I can wait.

I can't believe no one has figured this out, so many people seem to be having the same problems... You should get a prize from apple... Lol

I'm starting to think this is it... Been working my mac to the max... Music production, movies playing, music playing, all apps open at same time, no sign of problem, I really hope it's this simple. Apple should be able to fix this with an update

still going strong here

Mine too.

well... still rolling... looking real good

my keyboard has brightness control which did NOT work i dont think my keyboard is the problem. my imac is first gen and the displays been flickering for about a week now and i was watching a video and suddenly went black it still responded to the mouse i could hear the audio but i saw nothing. i cant get a replacement im waaayyy out of the warrenty. i turned it iff and back on then it went back to normal.

Guys if you look up occasional unespected black screen while using imac by andy bedford here in the search your ganna find that he was replied saying that its a hardware problem.

There's no reason to think everyone's computers are having the same problems. I read a couple people who had a part of the back light replaced with some success.

But there were also people who had the same part replaced and took their computers in 3 and 4 times only to have the problem recur. I took mine in twice and got home only to have the black screen come back

I'm on day 5 now, no blackouts. Rixxi's on day 3, I think.

My computer came back on several times before it started not staying on more than a second or two. If your problem comes back and you have an IMac, especially a 27 inch, buy a cheap keyboard (or borrow one) and give it a try. Be sure to remove the batteries from your Mac keyboard to be sure it is not sending signals to the computer. If you have success, come back to the thread and let us know.

By the way, a keyboard is hardware.

I saw your post in the thread you are talking about. It's was started 2 years ago. I wish Benford and come back to say what hardware needed replacing. "Hardware" can mean many things. I can relate to the frustration, the Apple geniuses told me the problem was the software because they couldn't find anything else. The reformatted the hard drive but it didn't fix the problem. I'm not the only one Apple told they had a software problem but reformatting didn't fix the problem.

In some of the cases, including mine, Apple could not find the problem hardware. But when I took my computer in, they used their own keyboard. So they never tested my keyboard.

I've now found a third person that had an Apple bluetooth keyboard causing problems. But he had a MacBook and not an IMac. This is what he said:

"My MacBook is a bit older than your iMac and I have had very few problems (battery replacement, hard drive replaced, but that's over 7 years). I use my laptop at a desk 80-90% of the time so I have a Cinema display and keyboard. The one thing I had tons of problems with was the "old" bluetooth keyboard. It is complete crap. So much so that I bought a wired version of the "small" keyboard."

So, while I wouldn't have thought of the keyboard for this issue, I am not surprised to hear that it may be the culprit.