iMac Late 2009 Graphic Card issues

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Level 1

40 points

iMac Late 2009 Graphic Card issues

Hi,

I have an iMac 21.5" Late 2009 with ATI Radeon HD 4670. I've been recently doing some Final Cut Pro X, then, one of my pictures in FCP became green in the entire video. It usually happens at certain points in my videos, but now it's been doing it in the entire video. So I decided to remove that picture and replace it with the same. Then, some weird lines and things flashed on the screen. One of my full-screen apps was completely covered in those graphical lines, and I saw lots of random lines (too hard to explain). If I switch tabs on Google Chrome, I see a flash of a black screen with a few green lines around. Even worse, if I open an image as a preview or in Preview, I see in the windows some bunch of random big pixels that seem familiar to some stuff i've seen, which looked like this:

The worst I've experienced so far was when I moved the mouse when my computer was in screen saver mode, when the password prompt appeared, this showed up:

I honestly don't know what is happening, never had these on my Mac before, although I had similar problems with my old PC. Tried booting in the Diagnostic Disc, but the disc drive is not working properly. Does anyone can help? Is it my graphic card's fault or is it something else?

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), iMac Late 2009

Posted on Apr 18, 2014 5:22 PM

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Answer 1

mesin

Level 1

8 points

Apr 18, 2014 6:43 PM in response to garirry

Have you tried this?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6093949?tstart=120

I got a similiar problem, but i think mine is a hardware problem as it also happens under bootcamp

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6100644?answerId=25507548022#25507548022

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Answer 2

Apr 18, 2014 10:02 PM in response to garirry

I also have the 21.5-inch, manufactured during October Late 2009 and assembled in (guess) China , iMac 10.1, Graphics Model: ATI RADEON HD 4670 2256 MB, Processor Speed 3.06 GHz, with latest version of OS X 10.9.2 (Mavericks).

In its process of starting up/loading i see lots of random graphic lines on a white background for a few seconds

Is that the beginnings of the graphics card having a mini stroke before it suffers a major heart attack ?

I am reading here at discussions.apple.com this worrisome problem is affecting many of us having this line of iMacs.

Like so many here I can't afford to have my iMac go down and I can't afford to step out and buy another.

I am trying the suggested solutions whereby it's solved only to come back the same day or the next day.

I'm confident the folks here will find the culprit and then the solution should follow.

Please please please guys this problem and uncertainty is too hard on this here old guys nerves.

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Answer 3

garirry Author

Level 1

40 points

Apr 19, 2014 5:20 AM in response to mesin

Hi,

I turned my computer on and there was no graphical issues with it. I turned off the LCD font smoothing just in case anything happens. If there's any other graphical issues by the end of the day, I'll tell you.

Thank you for your help.

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Answer 4

Apr 19, 2014 8:07 AM in response to mac midiguy

I am having concern that my iMac is in some serious trouble with the graphics card and perhaps also the mother board.

About a couple of months ago Apple had a warranty recall on my iMac to replace the hard drive. Obsiously a bad batch of hard drives manufactured by those Chineese factory workers or those guys in suits at Apple who over the recent years have been cutting corners to make yet another million for mother Apple at the expense of their loyal customers.

My God Apple I still have and use my LC 520 bought brand new more then ten years ago. The only replacement i have had to make is the PRAM battery about every 5 years.

So is it MAVERICK version 10.9.2 that needs some tweeking by Apple's programmers ?????

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Answer 5

garirry Author

Level 1

40 points

Sep 3, 2014 6:17 PM in response to garirry

So, I just saw one of those graphical glitches appear again, seriously, if I'll have to, I will downgrade to mountain lion, I am tired of all these problems with Mavericks, hope they're gonna be fixed in Yosemite. Back to the issue, I have no idea what caused this, it's been about 5 months since it last happened, and the LCD smoothing is off. Well, I restarted my computer, I'll tell you if there's any issues.

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Answer 6

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

Sep 3, 2014 6:51 PM in response to garirry

I have a similar graphics glitch like this for only a second or two when I first boot into Mavericks.

This could be a graphics driver issue in Mavericks.

I am still running and using OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard as my everyday work OS X version and never seen those types of graphic glitches under that OS X version, ever.

I am inclined to believe this maybe a Mavericks issue/bug.

I may post my own feedback about this here.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

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Answer 7

garirry Author

Level 1

40 points

Sep 3, 2014 7:55 PM in response to MichelPM

Well, someone on Macrumors forums told me it could be my graphic card failing, but for now, I'm unsure. I think tomorrow, I'm gonna do a full backup of my computer and install Snow Leopard. Hope it's gonna work fine.

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Answer 8

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

Sep 3, 2014 8:17 PM in response to garirry

Seeing the amount of graphics break up and artifacts, for you, it may very well be impending GPU or Logic board failure.

You won't know until you go back to a previous OS X version.

Best to backup everything, though. You should have a backup, anyways.

No computer, either Mac or Windows PC, shouldn't be without a complete external backup of the internal drive.

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Answer 9

garirry Author

Level 1

40 points

Sep 3, 2014 8:21 PM in response to MichelPM

Actually, I do back up my data, it's just that I recently ran out of space on my backup drive. I'm gonna find some hard drives laying around the house, so I could back up the rest of the data.

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