iMac 2009 Screen stuck (very weird & unusual)

[netsrot39]

Hello Community,
I’ve just restarted my iMac (24” Early 2009, 3 Ghz, running patched Mojave) because after leaving it on a couple of days it started to behave strangely. The computer rebooted normally but upon startup I noticed that the dock and other elements such as task bar are “stuck” or “burnt” into the screen, that means, the iMac now shows shadowy elements of the OS before it was turned down (please note the grey finder symbol in the attached pic) and also stuck pixel (all out of nowhere) I tried the usual troubleshooting routine (SMC and PRAM Reset) but all without any improvements. I’ll leave it unplugged for a couple of hours now but this is very strange and I’m really disappointed :-(. Has anybody of you guys ever experienced something like this? I would appreciate any further tips that might help in order to fix this.

Thanks!

 

[keysofanxiety]

That’s screen burn in, nothing software related. It’s down to the display.

Fairly common in older TFT models. Nothing you can do really.

 

[DeltaMac]

That "burn-in" will probably disappear if you unplug from power for 24-48 hours.

 

[Flitzer]

I had similar problems a couple of years ago. I bought a iMac OS X on Snow leopard in 2010. The one with the cd slot on the right hand side. All was fine until that fateful day about 2 years ago. Turned it on and I got a white/grey screen covered in random small grey/black square dots rather like pixels. Thinking it was goosed I bought a new iMac.
Sadly all the graphics software I was using for illustrative work was not compatible o the new one. I did not thrown my old one away.
Recently I read I might re boot the old one by pressing shift when starting or similar process with pressing r, s or c on start up. All gave me a grey screen with apple logo then blue then the dreaded white grey dot screen. Is there something I can do or do I just send it to meet it’s maker in silicone heaven? Any advice truly appreciated.

 

[DeltaMac]

I had similar problems a couple of years ago. I bought a iMac OS X on Snow leopard in 2010. The one with the cd slot on the right hand side. All was fine until that fateful day about 2 years ago. Turned it on and I got a white/grey screen covered in random small grey/black square dots rather like pixels. Thinking it was goosed I bought a new iMac.
Sadly all the graphics software I was using for illustrative work was not compatible o the new one. I did not thrown my old one away.
Recently I read I might re boot the old one by pressing shift when starting or similar process with pressing r, s or c on start up. All gave me a grey screen with apple logo then blue then the dreaded white grey dot screen. Is there something I can do or do I just send it to meet it’s maker in silicone heaven? Any advice truly appreciated.

Your problem is quite different. You have random pixels on the screen that show either turned on, or turned off. You have a problem with the electronics, which could be fixed by replacing the graphics card. Not all iMacs have replaceable graphics cards, and you would then need the OTHER step of possibly replacing the main logic board. YOUR LCD display panel is fine.
The OP's LCD screen has visible icons and other screen objects, such as menus, "permanently" showing on the screen. This is NOT a software problem, and also not a problem with either the graphics card or the logic board. It is purely an LCD panel issue, and should dissipate by removing power, and leaving it with power disconnected for a day or two.
YOUR problem is not the LCD panel, but will require a repair of some kind -- either the graphics card, or the main logic board. Sometimes you can do a "re-flow" of the graphics board/logic board. Quite a few posters here have tried that, with varying degrees of success.

 

[netsrot39]

Thanks guys for your help After leaving it unplugged for about 4-5 hours I can tell that it hasn't faded completly but it sure has gotten better. I think I'll use a screen saver from now on (which I never did or for at least I haven't been using since Windows 2000 or so . I read through some articles on the web and found out that in fact it isn't that uncommon (believe it or not today was the first time I experienced something like this and I've been using computers for about 20 years ) Maybe an expert could tell me if these "burns" are always temporary or in some cases permanent? Is it possible to get a new (maybe even upgraded) screen for this iMac 9.1?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Is it possible to get a new (maybe even upgraded) screen for this iMac 9.1?"

It's 10 years old.
Don't pay to replace the display.
Replace the iMac instead!

 

[netsrot39]

It's 10 years old.
Don't pay to replace the display.
Replace the iMac instead!

I probably would if it wasn't for the non-upgradability of the newer Macs. The early 2009 iMac despite it's age fits my needs perfectly, the 3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB RAM and the SSD inside (even though it's "only" SATA II) are doubtlessly sufficient enough for my university work, web-browsing, video playback and listening to music. No need to buy a new Mac if the old one is still rocking

So last night I left the iMac unplugged (for about 9 hours) and restarted it shortly before noon and thankfully it does not show those strange "burned" retention images anymore. Lesson learned, the first thing I did after startup is to set a screensaver Thank you all for helping and I hope the screen will "behave" better now due to the screensaver configuration.