Removed 24" Stand - now huge problem! Help!

[johninchina]

I was taking my 24" imac on a flight and followed all the instructions here to order a torx tool and use a credit card to remove the stand, but as I took out the last screw, I guess it wasn't locked into position, and the stand came off but the piece the stand screws into (and thus gets re-attached to) retracted back inside! I have no idea what to do now. I have tried to hit the latch and get the thing to rotate back out with no luck. ugh!! Any help would be godsent.

If I theoretically take the whole case apart (which I reaally don't want to do), is this latch/stand area more accessible? Or is my imac now destined by spend the rest of its days resting precariously on a desk with no stand?

Thank you!

 

[Mal]

Unfortunately, no, not in my experience. I've had some luck with using a piece of thick wire, which I was able to bend and feed through on of those holes in the stand and then back out, and then using a pair of pliers and a lever system to pull the piece back out until I could lock it in place using the card that you need to have for that. It wasn't easy, but it did work eventually.

jW

 

[DaveNinja]

I had this happen before. i totally freaked out but then was able to use some bail wire (thick wire) feed through the outer holes. i then looped the wire back together and used a glove and pulled on the wire until the connector part was out enough to lock. so dont freak out, its totally fixable.

 

[fhall1]

If you Google the issue you can find some creative ways to get it back out....I replaced my stand with the VESA mount a few years ago and when I was reading up on any issues I might have doing that, I found some threads where folks had to get the retracting part back out of their iMac.

Like I said it was a couple years ago so I don't remember the exact solutions or where I found them, but they're out there.

 

[AppleNewton]

I was taking my 24" imac on a flight and followed all the instructions here to order a torx tool and use a credit card to remove the stand, but as I took out the last screw, I guess it wasn't locked into position, and the stand came off but the piece the stand screws into (and thus gets re-attached to) retracted back inside! I have no idea what to do now. I have tried to hit the latch and get the thing to rotate back out with no luck. ugh!! Any help would be godsent.

Try using a thicker card to push the latch/mechanism back out, and having something to hook through one of the torx screw holes to pull it back out.

If I theoretically take the whole case apart (which I reaally don't want to do), is this latch/stand area more accessible? Or is my imac now destined by spend the rest of its days resting precariously on a desk with no stand?

Thank you!

That is a major PIA to remove and disassemble the entire machine for that and it won't likely resolve it either. Trying the same procedure to remove the stand is the best way to attempt to get it back.