Using an old 2009 iMac as a monitor

[Fizzunk]

Hello all,

I have an old 2009 iMac with a GPU thats seen better days. For a while it wouldnt pass the boot screen. But I got it to work again by disabling the KEXT files in safe mode.

I should note that TDM still works when using a console (WiiU) as an input device connected via a MDP->HDMI adapter.

Anyway, after building a PC I was wondering if I could squeeze a bit more life out of this iMac.

I have an nVidia graphics card, and connected the iMac via a MDP->DP adapter. When I open the nVidia control panel and go to the devices tab, my PC will only briefly recognise the iMac (as "Apple LCD TV") when I hit cmd+F2 for TDM. The iMac blacks out for a few seconds, then goes back to the original display. Then my PC no longer detects the iMac.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go from here?
Its quite frustrating getting so close, I would probably be more content if it didnt detect anything. But Im pretty sure Im going to lose sleep over this.

 

[thomas130]

Could you not rebuild your mac and use Synergy to share keyboard and mouse and have the use of two computers ?

 

[Fizzunk]

Well I've looked at a replacement gpu, and they go for about $300-400 bucks on eBay. Which is a lot more than I wanna pay for a piece of 2009 hardware.

 

[hawken king]

I have this exact same problem. What OS are you running on the iMac?
I've never had any problems with the graphics card on mine. It flicks to black when the cable is plugged in, comes up briefly in Windows8.1 & my macbook but then reverts back to it's previous state of being an iMac.
Running Mavericks.