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dlewis23

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 23, 2007
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I turned on my Retina iMac a few moments ago and noticed a nice white then gray bar right through the display.

Does anyone know what the issue might be here? Definitely an issue with the display not the OS.
 

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I turned on my Retina iMac a few moments ago and noticed a nice white then gray bar right through the display.

Does anyone know what the issue might be here? Definitely an issue with the display not the OS.

Display or GPU. Might want to reinstall OS X just to exhaust all options prior to return.

Any issues leading up to this? What was the iMac primarily used for? Just out of curiosity.
 
I turned on my Retina iMac a few moments ago and noticed a nice white then gray bar right through the display.

Does anyone know what the issue might be here? Definitely an issue with the display not the OS.

If it stays in the same place all the time, even at the boot menu, it's definitely an issue with the display or display cable. If this is the case your best bet would be to take it into Apple.
 
If it stays in the same place all the time, even at the boot menu, it's definitely an issue with the display or display cable. If this is the case your best bet would be to take it into Apple.

It does it all the time even in boot. The Apple store near me has a display in-stock to swap it out so going to try there.

Display or GPU. Might want to reinstall OS X just to exhaust all options prior to return.

Any issues leading up to this? What was the iMac primarily used for? Just out of curiosity.

No issues leading up to it. I use it for iOS app/web development.
 
Did you get AppleCare? I thought I read they come onsite for desktops.

I never heard that before, but this is from Apple's site:

"Onsite repair for desktop computers: Request that a technician come to your work site"

It does include a caveat that it might not be available everywhere.
 
I turned on my Retina iMac a few moments ago and noticed a nice white then gray bar right through the display.

Does anyone know what the issue might be here? Definitely an issue with the display not the OS.

You might take a screenshot (command + shift + 3) and see if the bar appears in the resulting image. If it does then it's likely the GPU. If it doesn't then, as others have said, it's likely the display and/or the LVDS cable.


I never heard that before, but this is from Apple's site:

"Onsite repair for desktop computers: Request that a technician come to your work site"

It does include a caveat that it might not be available everywhere.

They do. You have to call into AppleCare and specifically request an on-site repair after they go through all of the troubleshooting steps. They will almost always try to refer you to an Apple store if there's one within a reasonable range (45-60 miles) but if you push, and mention the on-site coverage as being a selling point when you purchased AppleCare, they should offer it to you as an option. The only time it's not an option is if there isn't an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP), who has on-site capabilities, within range of you. Apple doesn't directly employ on-site technicians, they instead rely on existing AASPs, so this is the only real deal breaker in some cases.

Source- I was an on-site technician at an AASP for a few years and would travel up to 200~ miles one way to repair Macs at schools, businesses and residential homes. I can personally attest that there's nothing that feels like a bigger waste of resources than driving 3 hours one way to replace a hard drive in a Mac mini.
 
Does this happen on the bootscreen if so then this would indicate its the display and not the GPU.

If I'm honest it don't look like a GPU issue.
 
Question did you or someone else try to open this display? that is what is looks like if you have busted one of the pixels in that display,The reason I know this I did that to my 21.5 iMac the second time I went inside of it.


It is damage and must be REPLACED..
 
So went to the Apple store near by last night and what a surprise they didn't have the display in stock even those on the phone I was told they did.

Anyway after explaining everything and then having the stores senior tech look at it I came home with a iMac that is now in even worse condition.

The senior tech and one other genius start pressing on the display and messing with the glass running there fingers all over the edges. They ended up pulling part of the glass off and cracking the panel. So my gray line is now a black line.

After there lovely work they decided to order a new screen so in 3 - 5 days they should have a new one to replace the even more broken one.
 
So went to the Apple store near by last night and what a surprise they didn't have the display in stock even those on the phone I was told they did.

Anyway after explaining everything and then having the stores senior tech look at it I came home with a iMac that is now in even worse condition.

The senior tech and one other genius start pressing on the display and messing with the glass running there fingers all over the edges. They ended up pulling part of the glass off and cracking the panel. So my gray line is now a black line.

After there lovely work they decided to order a new screen so in 3 - 5 days they should have a new one to replace the even more broken one.

I have to do this...

WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?

Just.. sometimes I wonder about the people that get employment at Apple Stores. I dread having to bring my 5K iMac in for any service.
 
Back up everything and delete anything sensitive. You should assume the worst, that they will either wipe the drive clean or replace the whole machine.

Replacing the screen may not fix the stripe. If you haven't bought Apple Care already, I would buy it before the 1 year window closes.

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