The iMac’s screen went black today. I’m really, really hoping that it is just the inverter card in the display unit. That’s about $70 and pretty easy to replace. Otherwise it might be the motherboard and for the price of one of those, I might as well just get a new computer.
I really love my iMac. 20 inches of display, beautiful design. Sigh. Not a good day.
Update: I had to order the VGA video out adapter so I could verify it isn’t the logic board. It isn’t. Now off to find an inverter so I can get that big, beautiful display working again.
Update 2: I noticed that the one stuck pixel was lit up. So I unplugged the external display and rebooted and it is working again. I hate it when electronics do that. Just as well since I can’t find an inverter card right now.
10 Comments
Looks like a job for . . .
Well darn. The pic didn’t work.
(You’re SUPPOSED to be seeing one of the new 20″ iMacs at the end of that last comment.)
Awe, thanks Rae, but it just ain’t as purddy…
Tim,
Did the screen go completely, absolutely black?
Or just mostly black? (You can see a very faint outline of the screen or windows in the background when looking at the “black” screen from a slight angle.)
I had the same thing happen on mine. If you can see a faint outline of things, then it is just the inverter. I replaced mine (purchased one cheap on eBay) and my iMac’s up and running again.
Hope this helps. I may even still have the pdf’s on how to change that thingy.
Kevin
Hey Kevin, I was hoping you’d pipe in! I can’t really see the screen but when I boot and stuff it kind of looks like something happens but it is black.
I’ve had to order the VGA adapter from Apple so I can hook up an external monitor and see if the video is still good. Once I get that I’ll decide what to do next. Rae’s suggestion for a new 20″ iMac might be a good one. Yikes.
If you have the PDF, please send it. I’m assuming the inverter is in the display unit and that looks easy to get to. Man, I hope is that and nothing else.
Thank you for your postings! My 17-inch flat panel Apple iMac which is just a few years old also had this happen in the last year.
The machine chimes, keyboard lights come on, etc. My display shows a black screen but I can see the windows in the background.
I was able to log on “in the dark” so to speak. When I did, the machine booted fine with all the usual virus scanning, etc. taking place in the background. I could even read “AntiVirus” and a few other large text things.
When I clicked the mouse on the desktop after booting up, I was able to see an Acrobat Reader window come up. All is very faint, of course.
This may well be a very widespread problem. I know there was a class action lawsuit recently settled that dealt with the high-cost repairs on the Apple Studio Display. It seems there was an inverter board problem there.
Apparently, Apple knows more about the backlight and/or inverter board problems in these model iMacs. More research is warranted…
Charlene Blake
cblake@erols.com
charleneblake@cox.net
August 2007
Kevin, could you please post or forward the PDF with the instructions on the replacement of the inverter? Thank you!
Charlene Blake
cblake@erols.com
charlene.blake@cox.net
Charlene, I’m not sure if Apple is necessarily up to something here but it seems like there may be a lot of legacy inverters failing. I can’t find any on eBay or at spare part retailers!
I’m searching for those PDFs on changing the inverter. Sorry it took so long for me to notice. Hope they can still prove useful… if I find them!!
Well….just happened to me too! Woke up this morning ready to check email and screen is dark. I have had pretty much the same problem as Charlene. This is a PITA!!!
But, I’m glad to see I’m not alone.
If you find the pdf, that would be great!