Imac Late 2009 27" + Graphic Issues. Mavericks?

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Stew-art Author

Level 1

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Imac Late 2009 27" + Graphic Issues. Mavericks?

So I updated my Imac to Mavericks a little while ago (1 month-ish ago).

Specs:

Its a Late 2009 Imac 27"

2.66 GHz Intel Core i5

4GB 1067 MHz DDR3

ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB

Serial Code ending in E5PJ

Software 10.9 (13A603)

SO...as of recently I have been having some pretty bad graphical issues.

I remember awhile ago there was a issue with graphic cards in imacs...but that was some time ago, and my serial number didn't correspond with

imacs that had been having issues...

I have noticed a slowing down in my performance probably due to the new OS?

But I was interested since I was still on Snow Leopard and I had gotten a new printer that required Lion or higher.

This computer is a beaut - and has been running great. This is the first issue I have encountered in awhile and hope its nothing serious.

The problem seems to happen when larger windows are opened. I have some smaller images that I open via - spacebar on my desktop and they

open fine. But when it seems to be larger images or applications they glitch out.

I have yet to see any issues similar to this other than the other graphical issues.

Any help would be great!

Best,

Posted on Nov 22, 2013 6:22 PM

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Answer 1

jheising

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2013 3:23 PM in response to Stew-art

Check this out:

http://www.pauloamgomes.net/blog/fix-weird-os-x-freeze-imacs-late-2009

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Answer 2

Gotwqqd

Level 1

35 points

Dec 1, 2013 10:34 AM in response to jheising

If others are having what appears to be boot up problems with a gray or whites screen and have a '11imac

Make a Genius Bar appointment. It's probable you have a bad video card. It's about a 290$ repair, but apple has acknowledged it as bad design and fixes it free even if not under warranty.

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Answer 3

Apr 17, 2014 3:12 AM in response to Gotwqqd

Not much help to us 2009 owners. Same problem since I upgraded to Maverick

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Answer 4

Apr 25, 2014 8:29 AM in response to Stew-art

Hi. I upgraded to Maverick a few days ago and now my display is now stuffed. I have text and icon jitters, as well as yellow blotches and just this evening blue blotches. It's very disappointing. I have a late 2009 27in Imac with a ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB. I am going to go buy Snow Leopard (not that I should have to) and try reinstalling it to see if that works. Very unhappy Apple. I wish I had checked out the discussion forums before doing it. I won't make the same mistake again.

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Answer 5

Jul 3, 2014 8:46 AM in response to jheising

That procedure worked perfectly for me! Good recommendation.

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Answer 6

nikoskas

Level 1

0 points

Sep 4, 2014 12:38 AM in response to Stew-art

really glad to find this post..have the same problem with my imac 27 (11.1) late 2009 and the ati 4850. My screen keeps "locking" and goes black
but still the system was running. the only solution i found before reading this post was to keep the brightness as low as i could. if i attempted increasing it immediately it started going black again.
I tried yesterday the procedure with replacing the graphic card's kexts with the 10.6.2 ones and became 80% more stable. i now have the brightness at 60% and since yesterday i had only two locked screens instead of 50 that i was having with the mavericks kexts. So it's not completely fixed but surely works much better.
The next step i want to do is to try also these updates i found today 27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 maybe they are already installed but when i go home i'll check it, and then final step to open the mac and clean in from dust. i noticed that full brightness increases the temperature and want to see if cleaning it, and the fans, will make it better combined with the old kexts.
Anyone has any other news from the problem? replacing with the old kexts fixed your problem completely? and with full brightness?

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Answer 7

Oct 17, 2014 10:47 AM in response to Stew-art

I have the same issue. Is there some kind of a GPU driver fix for this problem? Or is my ATI Radeon 4850 512 MB card physically fried? Has anyone gotten the card replaced by Apple? How much does that cost?

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