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iMac 27" Intel i5 (Not sure of year)

Hello there!


I have an iMac which was gifted to me yesterday by my father-in-law, and it's in excellent condition. It's an older model I believe with an Intel i5 2.7ghz processor and an AMD Radeon 6770M 512mb GPU? (I think, this is what I've been able to surmise thus far).


There is a slight issue with it - when powering on the machine - the chimes are heard at the boot stage, however, the screen does not seem to wish to power up. There is no lighting, no backlighting, no display, nothing. It's just absolutely black.


Upon further inspection, I decided as this machine is far out of warranty, to take a look inside - and found that a cable that I believe should connect from the display to a small board on the interior casing on the right hand side - I think referred to as a VSYNC chip, is indeed missing. I thought this could be the main issue, however, I'm not entirely sure.


I spoke with my father-in-law, and asked if he knew if anyone had attempted any repairs on this machine, and he explained that a friend of his had opened the machine, and removed the screen - but was not aware of the connections behind it - as a result, he had pulled all the connectors out from their slots. I've checked the main board and everything appears to be fine, apart from some white residue - which I believe to be thermal compound which has dripped out from somewhere - there appears to be no real signs of damage. I took an LED lamp and checked the screen for any signs of damage, but there are no scratches, no breakages etc.


I've checked the connection labeled "DP" and the right side connector which hooks up to the right side board with what looks like a power connector, and I am not sure which one of these is to blame. I cannot diagnose any further issues without a screen functioning on this thing. I'm at a loss here.


I was wondering if anyone knows if this is an existing issue, or if someone who did a bad job disassembling the machine actually broke some connector here. And if so, what sort of cost I am looking at to repair and/or replace any and all parts?


Any advice on repair for this machine would be most welcome.


Thanks guys.

iMac

Posted on Jul 16, 2017 11:09 PM

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14 replies
User profile for user: seventy one
seventy one
User level: Level 7
27,460 points

Jul 17, 2017 2:32 AM in response to Community User

I can't advise you about repair options or pricing. I can say that it is very unlikely Apple would want to get involved, mostly because it has had unapproved repair work done by other sources. That the warranty is out of date is less important until it reaches 'legacy' age, good condition uncorrupted machines will still be taken in and looked at.


I think you need to find a technically proficient Apple fan who would undertake the challenge.

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User profile for user: Community User
Community User Author

Jul 17, 2017 2:38 AM in response to seventy one

I too thought about this, but my main issue is that I do not live in a city, rather in the middle of Black Forest in Germany, and I do not have a car - so carrying this machine around is not an option for me. And travelling by train, especially into the nearest city Karlsruhe, or Pforzheim would indeed cause a few odd reactions and/or potential thieves.


If you could recommend a site or anything that could provide some further info on this, I have contacted a few people on Reddit for some information, and I'm not really too worried about the machine becoming further modified and/or opened up, due to it being opened by someone unauthorized. I would take this to Apple, but as you say, it's been opened so they're likely to be "Woah. Nope." with that.


I would just like to know if others have experienced a similar issue; and if so, how did they repair this?

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User profile for user: Community User
Community User Author

Jul 17, 2017 3:28 AM in response to SeaPapp

Thanks, that's more or less what I'm looking at. But, I think the good thing is - I do not see any evidence of a damaged screen assembly. I think what has happened is that something has been knocked off, or loosened from the main board. But, testing this is something I want to get around to. Would it be advisable to purchase a cable to allow a HDMI or DVI connection to see if I get a display? Sometimes. I've noticed that the mac will chime, restart, and chime again, and sometimes do this on loop until I restart. But this only happens sometimes. Not all the time.


I'd also like to state that this looks very similar to the mac I have, but this is not the exact same. I checked this link - and this matches the spec -

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-i5-2.7-21-inch-alumin um-mid-2011-thunderbolt-specs.html


The main difference I have noted is that the VSYNC cable is not a "cable" but rather a ribbon cable with a flat edge. As for the Display connector, this has not got two parallel connections like seen in the image, but instead, is one larger encased ribbon cable.

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User profile for user: woodmeister50
woodmeister50
User level: Level 7
21,045 points

Jul 17, 2017 3:51 AM in response to Community User

You may want to look here:

https://locate.apple.com/


It should come up with the options for Germany. If not,

there is a link in the upper right hand corner to take you

to the proper pages. You can then look for Apple Authorized

Service Providers.


You can then call them to help get a diagnosis on repair costs.

You can explain your situation and they may suggest means and

procedures for shipping to them if you choose this option for repair.

You can then decide whether it is worth it to get it repaired.

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User profile for user: Community User
Community User Author

Jul 17, 2017 3:55 AM in response to woodmeister50

@Mike -

No no, that's correct - this is a 27" Model, but the cabling inside the machine on the images are not matching what I have in mine. I will look at the model number when I am home from work and confirm which model it is.


@woodmeister50 -

I mentioned in an earlier post that getting this repaired by Apple is not an option. This is because the Mac has been opened by a previous owner, and further more by myself.


And of course it is worth repairing - but I would rather repair this myself, as I do not think the pricing for Apple product(s) is fair on repairs. Especially on iMac machines, it's disgusting how much people want. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a whole new machine than it is to repair. But these people know that people are desperate to have what they know, working again, as opposed to having to buy and learn a whole new machine.

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User profile for user: seventy one
seventy one
User level: Level 7
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Jul 17, 2017 4:14 AM in response to Community User

You've had some good advice so far, well done, Mike.


I can see you are astute but for what it's worth, I have to warn you about contacts via Reddit or any other social media sources. The suggestion about authorized re-sellers is good because they are not Apple, they are private businesses but known to, supplied by and supported by Apple. They may know someone near to you. Lets wait and see what Mike's latest suggestion reveals when you get home.

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User profile for user: SeaPapp
SeaPapp
User level: Level 7
26,492 points

Jul 17, 2017 6:47 PM in response to Community User

Once you've determined exactly which iMac you have it might be best to get on ebay or some other auction site and try to pick up a matching iMac with a failed GPU.....there should be lots of them and you might be able to come by one cheap, and swap out the display or logic board whichever turns out to be damaged. It's impossible to tell from here but I'd almost be willing to bet that the logic board is damaged by the cables yanking on it. Swapping a logic board out on an iMac isn't for the faint of heart, so you're really going to have to decide if this iMac is worth it.

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User profile for user: Community User
Community User Author

Jul 17, 2017 11:39 PM in response to seventy one

@seventy_one

I regularly repair Windows based machines; and this is no issue - but looking inside an iMac, wow. Different or what? I think I might have to go to a re-seller or repair tech, but, this is something I hope to avoid if I can.


@mike sombrio

I thought about this myself, and I have ordered a display port cable for the monitor to the logic board; and will be testing this over the weekend; I did take a look online at other suggestions; and found that someone said "shine a light at it" but, I already did this. I have also ordered a Thunderbolt to DVI/HDMI connector, I forgot which connector it goes to, but I am sure it is HDMI. But I will test this when I am home. I am still at work. But tonight I will be home. And I will update here.

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User profile for user: woodmeister50
woodmeister50
User level: Level 7
21,045 points

Jul 18, 2017 2:29 AM in response to Community User

Limayhem wrote:

....


@woodmeister50 -

I mentioned in an earlier post that getting this repaired by Apple is not an option. This is because the Mac has been opened by a previous owner, and further more by myself.

...

I suggested an Apple Authorized Service Provider. They

are privately owned operations that have gone through

various procedures to be certified to repair Macs. They

will perform many things on Macs that "Apple owned" centers

will refuse to do (upgrade hard drives is one example). As a matter of

fact, the vast majority of them repair all manor of PCs. It

is just that they have gone through the Apple certification process.


As such, they are allowed to work on Apple products regardless

of what has or hasn't been done.

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User profile for user: Community User
Community User Author

Jul 19, 2017 10:36 PM in response to SeaPapp

@Mike

So, since I've been home I now know which model number it is Ihave. This is an A1312 iMac 27" with an Intel i5 CPU clocked at 2.8Ghz. I believe I have found the issue - in the case of this guy repairing "I say repairing" the iMac, when the screen was pulled forward - I believe he pulled the DP connector on the Logic Board too much. This is noticeable when lightly touching the port connector it "swings" almost to a 45 degree angle. The exposed connections are damaged; and as a result, I believe this is an issue with that connector.


But this would also mean that something else is potentially damaged. As I get absolutely no backlight on the display, I believed this would turn on even without the presence of a video signal? Or am I mistaken? I think this as the VSYNC chip on the upper left is also missing a ribbon cable. So I have ordered a replacement one along with a replacement DP ribbon cable and test as much as I can. But I strongly suspect it is indeed a logic board issue.


In terms of that though - is there anywhere that I can pick up an old - working - logic board without having to shell out a fortune? I'd love to get this mac working and so far my only option is to run a secondary display from the thunderbolt port on the back - but, again, this is just a hope right now as I am still yet to confirm if this port is functional.


@Woodmeister

I understand completely, I didn't understand your original post as I took the link and it just directed me through a maze of Apple webpages. But, I think this might be an option to consider. As I mentioned above to Mike, I need to source (I think) a replacement "logic board" from somewhere.

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iMac 27" Intel i5 (Not sure of year)

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