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Vertical blue lines over black screen at startup and lockscreen

Jara2212

Jara2212

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 19, 2017
2
0
Hello, a few days ago I locked my imac screen and got a black screen with blue lines instead of the lock screen where I usually write my password (pic #2). The only solution I found was to restart the computer but, everytime, it starts up with a similar glitch screen (pic #5), sometime if I'm lucky (1 out of 5 times restarting) it starts up with the same glitch screen but then it displays my user logo behind the blue lines so I can put my password and everything looks normal again (pic #4), but if I lock my screen again (cmd+shift+eject) I would get the same glitch screen as when I restart it. I couldn't find any solution, please help. Thanks.
20987898_10155192943309232_40154748_n.jpg
 
Vertical lines are an almost certain sign of a failing video card. Unfortunately, if so there are no easy or inexpensive fixes.

What year and model is it?
 
My best guess is either a failing GPU or an LCD panel gone bad. If the machine is not freezing, crashing, rebooting, more likely the latter. Either one is a very expensive repair.

I take it the machine doesn't have AppleCare? Do you only get the vertical lines at the login screen? No glitches while in use?
 
As SaSaShushi states it's either a dying GPU or LCD failure. Without AppleCare that's going to be a very expensive repair sadly.
 
I had similar issue on my iMac 5k 2014 i7 model. but only during startup. not on lock screen. It turned out to be Beta version of MacOS. Once I reinstalled without beta, every thing went back to normal.
 
My iMac late 2009 had blue vertical line on screen and I thought that its VDO card had problem. I did back up with time machine. And did reset every thing back to factory default from HDD formatting and reinstall new OS-X online. Good thing was happened that blue vertical line was totally disappeared. The iMac late 2009 becomes normal. I think that the problem is caused by latest update of OS-X Sierra. Then I set my iMac late 2009 does not to automatically update OS-X in order to avoid this problem again.
 
Jara2212 said:
Hello, a few days ago I locked my imac screen and got a black screen with blue lines instead of the lock screen where I usually write my password (pic #2). The only solution I found was to restart the computer but, everytime, it starts up with a similar glitch screen (pic #5), sometime if I'm lucky (1 out of 5 times restarting) it starts up with the same glitch screen but then it displays my user logo behind the blue lines so I can put my password and everything looks normal again (pic #4), but if I lock my screen again (cmd+shift+eject) I would get the same glitch screen as when I restart it. I couldn't find any solution, please help. Thanks.
20987898_10155192943309232_40154748_n.jpg
Click to expand...

Did you find a solution to this? I am having the same problem with my late 2013 27"iMac.
 
littlehb said:
Did you find a solution to this? I am having the same problem with my late 2013 27"iMac.
Click to expand...

Today my 21” iMac late 2013 got the same problem. Vertical blue lines on start up and nothing happens. No start up. It’s completely dead.

Any ideas?
 
Just to help someone in future...
Got mine today at assistance today. That was a LCD problem. I had to buy a new LCD to replace it.

Thats not a video card or logic board problem.
 
Can anyone who has had the LCD or GPU replaced give me an idea of the cost? My iMac is 7 years old, and I'm willing to put a few hundred into it, but if the cost is $1000 or more, I'll probably just get rid of it, since it's already nearly a dinosaur in "computer years".
 
Hank Unck said:
Can anyone who has had the LCD or GPU replaced give me an idea of the cost? My iMac is 7 years old, and I'm willing to put a few hundred into it, but if the cost is $1000 or more, I'll probably just get rid of it, since it's already nearly a dinosaur in "computer years".
Click to expand...

I took the computer to the technical service and they said the LCD was about $999 directy from Apple. Then I searched on internet for other options. At firts I would suggest you to check if your problem is just the LCD (or the motherboard). And you can check on ebay or other websites for better prices.
 
Del Rei said:
I took the computer to the technical service and they said the LCD was about $999 directy from Apple. Then I searched on internet for other options. At firts I would suggest you to check if your problem is just the LCD (or the motherboard). And you can check on ebay or other websites for better prices.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. It's helpful.
 
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