Late 2006 iMac lost left side display

[MacPC]

Hi, I have a late 2006 iMac, everything works fine with it except the display, the left side of the display is dead (please see the attached picture) I just need to confirm if it is because of a bad inverter of if it is the backlight. Thanks in advance.

 

[khedden]

Try booting into safe mode and see if it still occurs. Safe mode should disable quartz extreme and therefore disable the GPU. If it does not occur in safe mode, then its likely a GPU problem and you can permanently disable the GPU and still have a working computer (albeit with much slower graphics). The 2006 iMac has notoriously failure-prone GPUs.

If the issue does occur under safe mode, then it may be a damaged cable, screen, etc. Sorry, I can't help you much there. You could try replacing some components, but it would be a crap shoot.

 

[MacVidCards]

That is neither the inverter nor the backlight.

The inverter powers the backlight anyway.

If you had no backlight, you would have black but would be able to use a bright flashlight to see the screen.

What you have is one of three things:

1. Bad GPU
2. Bad display connection inside (cable)
3. Bad display panel

First test would be to use external video connection. If external video has flaw as well, bad card. If external video fine, it is #2 or #3

 

[kitsunestudios]

My Mid 2006 17" iMac has a similar issue, and I've heard a few other people having the same problem. Columns of pixels have become "stuck" on a single color, with more increasing over time.

Have you tried hooking up an external monitor? That still works for me.

 

[MacPC]

That is neither the inverter nor the backlight.

The inverter powers the backlight anyway.

If you had no backlight, you would have black but would be able to use a bright flashlight to see the screen.

What you have is one of three things:

1. Bad GPU
2. Bad display connection inside (cable)
3. Bad display panel

First test would be to use external video connection. If external video has flaw as well, bad card. If external video fine, it is #2 or #3

Hi MacVidCards and all, thanks for your replies, so I guess it is #2 or #3 because when I use an external display, the display works just fine.