iMac video card fault?

missile

Hi,

My 27" iMac suddenly died as if there was a power cut. On trying to reboot, faced with the grey screen and number of quite broad green vertical lines. Progress stops, then black screen appears. Reboot to grey screen and green bars... And again. I've googled and this would appear to be a fault with the video card? Some help would be appreciated.

iMac (27-inch): AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program
Apple has determined that some AMD Radeon HD 6970M video cards used in 27-inch iMac computers with 3.1GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 or 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processors may fail, causing the computer’s display to appear distorted, white or blue with vertical lines, or to turn black. iMac computers with affected video cards were sold between May 2011 and October 2012.

If the iMac (27-inch) meets these requirements, Apple will replace the video card free of charge

To compound my problems: My Passport auto back up has not worked. Any advice on how I might get my data off the PC before I attempt a repair?

missile

Hi,
Just an update for those who may have a similar problem / have viewed this post>>>

I decided that it would be expensive to repair my aged iMac27 and perhaps another component may fail soon. I have decided to replace it.

I was able to access the hard drive using my laptop and network sharing to download all of my data to a portable hard drive.

I just have to decide how much cash I want to splash on a shinny new PC.

Will need to be more careful and check my auto back-up is working.

almillar

From your own quote:

If the iMac (27-inch) meets these requirements, Apple will replace the video card free of charge

If you've got an Apple store near you, and that's your model of iMac, it'll cost you nothing. Definitely get it fixed. And start a fund for when something does, inevitably, go wrong. Use what you've already paid for.
I had one of the Macbook Pro 17" that had graphics card problems, it got a new mainboard (motherboard in PC speak) fitted for free twice. After doing more research second time around, other users had worked out that the problem hadn't really been fixed, and that you were just getting refurbed boards that would eventually fail. So that's when I replaced.

prowla

I've got the same thing with a mid-2011 Mac mini with a Radeon card.

missile

almillar wrote: »

From your own quote:



If you've got an Apple store near you, and that's your model of iMac, it'll cost you nothing. Definitely get it fixed. And start a fund for when something does, inevitably, go wrong. Use what you've already paid for.
I had one of the Macbook Pro 17" that had graphics card problems, it got a new mainboard (motherboard in PC speak) fitted for free twice. After doing more research second time around, other users had worked out that the problem hadn't really been fixed, and that you were just getting refurbed boards that would eventually fail. So that's when I replaced.

Unfortunately, the offer from Apple for free replacement has long since run out for my iMac

almillar

Fair enough, I got my second mainboard on one of the last few days, then sold the computer, as it was just another ticking clock.
I think you might be surprised if you sell it, honestly, as is, even without the hard drive, at the value you could get for it. There are people that can reflow the solder around the graphics chip which might bring it round, and might still be economically viable depending on the value of it.

missile

almillar wrote: »

Fair enough, I got my second mainboard on one of the last few days, then sold the computer, as it was just another ticking clock.
I think you might be surprised if you sell it, honestly, as is, even without the hard drive, at the value you could get for it. There are people that can reflow the solder around the graphics chip which might bring it round, and might still be economically viable depending on the value of it.

I shall try to get my data off then overwrite, delete and erase sensitive data. Then I might advertise for spares or repair :beer: