Late 2006 20'' Core Duo iMac Graphic Death!

[Gökhan]

Hello. I wanted to upgrade my Core Duo 2Ghz Processor with T7400 Core 2 Duo T7400. But mistakenly, I tried to pull out Ati X1600 with Screwdriver. When I realized its not the CPU, I stopped my attempt. It looks like there is no damage. Found real CPU & perfectly replaced it with C2D T7400. Anyway, When I finish my job & open iMac, screen became dizzy. My Hard Drive have 3 partitions: 1st partition is empty, 200GB: Ready for install mac os x leopard. 2nd holds my personal files: 700GB. Last one holds Windows 7 OS. So, I tried to boot from Snow Leopard Disc but dizzy screen eventually become very bad which I couldn't do anything. Later, I tried to open Win partition. But when I try this system restarts. I Also tried win 7 CD boot, which gave me only black screen.

I reopened inside of my imac, pulled out new cpu & placed old one. Also checked any anormalities. When I finish the job & open the system, nothing changed. I think somehow I killed my graphic card. Any suggestions would be very good.

 

[Cristian .b]

isn't the gpu soldered? if it is i think you broke the solder. to repair that you will need a soldering station. it's a surface mounted bga, i hope the mount itself didn't get damaged, if it is you have gotten some trouble.

 

[Dustman]

Hello. I wanted to upgrade my Core Duo 2Ghz Processor with T7400 Core 2 Duo T7400. But mistakenly, I tried to pull out Ati X1600 with Screwdriver. When I realized its not the CPU, I stopped my attempt. It looks like there is no damage. Found real CPU & perfectly replaced it with C2D T7400. Anyway, When I finish my job & open iMac, screen became dizzy. My Hard Drive have 3 partitions: 1st partition is empty, 200GB: Ready for install mac os x leopard. 2nd holds my personal files: 700GB. Last one holds Windows 7 OS. So, I tried to boot from Snow Leopard Disc but dizzy screen eventually become very bad which I couldn't do anything. Later, I tried to open Win partition. But when I try this system restarts. I Also tried win 7 CD boot, which gave me only black screen.

I reopened inside of my imac, pulled out new cpu & placed old one. Also checked any anormalities. When I finish the job & open the system, nothing changed. I think somehow I killed my graphic card. Any suggestions would be very good.

If this is exactly as pictured while reading it, I'd imagine the other gent is right and you best be off to get a soldering iron. Get back in there and see if you can see any damage. Worst case scenario, it'll be a lesson in being a tad bit more gentile in the future.