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Mid-2011 iMac Won't Boot - VERTICAL LINES

C

Copefree

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
96
27
My 27" mid-2011 iMac began restarting today, over and over and over. Repeatedly restarting. There are 5 or 6 vertical pink bars being displayed on the gray boot-screen.

What does this mean? Are the pink bars a symptom of "X" problem? What could it be?

All I've done to the computer is add more RAM like 3 years ago. I bought it new in May 2011 and it's been rock solid for 6 years.

Is this something I can fix on my own?

** UPDATE -- I baked the graphics card in the oven, reassembled the machine, and it now works again -- good as new **
 
Last edited:
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Copefree said:
I had a feeling ...

Has anyone ordered from Mac Parts Depot?

https://www.macpartsdepot.com/661-5...ch-imac.html?gclid=CIXftuiN89MCFVFsfgodskgOFQ

^ I'm considering buying that as a direct replacement.
Click to expand...
In the name of god do NOT buy from macpalace what ever you do. Ive never had the oven bake trick work. Replacing the cards with just about any other card will work, including the 21.5 inch card, the heat sync doesn't fit but you can easily transplant the card. Good luck! and yes it is the gfx card for sure.
 
I baked the card and am just waiting for my new monitor cable to be delivered by UPS -- I broke the cable while taking the screen out.

I'll know later today if the "oven trick" works.
 
IT WORKED! I reassembled it about an hour ago and all systems are running perfectly. She's back in business!
 
My 2011 iMac just developed this issue a couple of days ago and now will not boot.

I was able to recover my current emails by booting into target disk mode and everything else is backed up.

My question is has anyone recently gotten Apple to replace the Radeon HD 6970M card under TS5167? I have an appointment at the Apple store on Monday but will probably open it up, clean it out and maybe do a re-paste. It's been pretty much on 24/7 since I got it so I can't really complain.

If they say no, then I'll try to bake it.

Thanks!
 
This just happened to my 2011 iMac. I haven't tried anything yet and was hoping it would last until the new iMacs were released.
 
Ejkjr said:
This just happened to my 2011 iMac. I haven't tried anything yet and was hoping it would last until the new iMacs were released.
Click to expand...

Well it looks like mine died. I am a little disappointed that it didn't last longer. it was not used a lot over the last 5-6 years.
 
Copefree said:
IT WORKED! I reassembled it about an hour ago and all systems are running perfectly. She's back in business!
Click to expand...

Same here. My 2011 27" i5 3.1 had a completely blank screen, now it has all of it's former glory restored. Only issue is I broke one of the wires to the CPU fan when reassembling it so I have to wait for a new fan to arrive before I can put it through it's paces.

I was skeptical, but I'm now a believer. I bought 3 27" 2011 iMacs on eBay (two with i7 3.4Ghz and one with i5 2.7Ghz) all with dead screens for cheap. Hopefully, this fix will work for all of them and I can flip them afterwards for a little cash.
 
tpluth said:
Same here. My 2011 27" i5 3.1 had a completely blank screen, now it has all of it's former glory restored. Only issue is I broke one of the wires to the CPU fan when reassembling it so I have to wait for a new fan to arrive before I can put it through it's paces.

I was skeptical, but I'm now a believer. I bought 3 27" 2011 iMacs on eBay (two with i7 3.4Ghz and one with i5 2.7Ghz) all with dead screens for cheap. Hopefully, this fix will work for all of them and I can flip them afterwards for a little cash.
Click to expand...

Same here. Mine has been running since the beginning of June, when I baked the card.

Keep in mind, from what I've read this is only a temporary fix and the cards may die again after a few months. If you go to sell those on eBay you could be on the hook for as long as 6 months after you sell it, what with their buyer protection plans.
 
Copefree said:
My 27" mid-2011 iMac began restarting today, over and over and over. Repeatedly restarting. There are 5 or 6 vertical pink bars being displayed on the gray boot-screen.

What does this mean? Are the pink bars a symptom of "X" problem? What could it be?

All I've done to the computer is add more RAM like 3 years ago. I bought it new in May 2011 and it's been rock solid for 6 years.

Is this something I can fix on my own?

** UPDATE -- I baked the graphics card in the oven, reassembled the machine, and it now works again -- good as new **
Click to expand...

How did you do the baking? Can you tell me all the details, as I once put a PCB in the oven and stuff melted!
 
I did mine following this video:

.

I baked mine at 390F for around 11 minutes then pulled the baking sheet out of the oven and let the card cool to room temp. I also used K5 Pro to replace the thermal pads/paste: https://www.amazon.com/viscous-ther...ie=UTF8&qid=1499696322&sr=8-1&keywords=k5+pro.

I used this guide for the teardown: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2429+Dual+Hard+Drive+Kit/7575.

Also while I had the computer apart I cleaned out all of dust in the enclosure and fans.

Be very careful putting the display back in. I mangled the LVDS cable and had to get another one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B5VG4AM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
 
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