Late 2009 iMac will only boot into safe mode

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My iMac is unable to boot into "Normal" mode

I have done the SMC, PRAM,
Apple Hardware Test
Reset NVRAM
Recovery Mode
Verbose Mode (repair)

For some time, I was able to use the iMac in safe mode (albeit limited hardware)
Until recently Google Chrome began displaying what appears to be a refresh issue

Video of the screen with Google Chrome while in safe mode:
http://youtu.be/EMRBvVyUSsU

iMac specs:
The iMac "Core i5" 2.66 27-Inch Aluminum (Late 2009) is powered by a 2.66 GHz Quad Core Intel "Core i5" I5-750 (Lynnfield/Nehalem) processor with a dedicated 256k level 2 cache for each core and an 8 MB shared level 3 cache.

By default, it is configured with 4 GB of RAM (1066 MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM), a 1 TB (7200 RPM) hard drive, a vertically-mounted slot-loading DVD±R DL "SuperDrive", and ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512 MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory.
 
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Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
When you say Recovery, did you run repair Disk whilst in Recovery mode?

If all checks out well, then the problem may be the graphics card. 27" late 009 iMacs seem to have a problem with this:-


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5149001
 
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Harryb2448,

Yes I did run repair disk while in recovery mode. No success.

Before this, it is a nice computer. What goes bad on the late 09 iMac video card? I have seen e-bay posts for $99 to repair the video card which suggests that it is an issue.

When you say Recovery, did you run repair Disk whilst in Recovery mode?

If all checks out well, then the problem may be the graphics card. 27" late 009 iMacs seem to have a problem with this:-


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5149001
 
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Can't help with what precisely fails in the card, however do a Google and see what others offer. $99 is a fair price I would think.
 
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I am hoping that someone in this forum will chime in and give details how these video cards are failing. This way I can maybe decide to send it out to someone for repairs and trust that it will not just fail again. I worry because other have posted having the video card replaced for it to fail again after a short amount of time.


Can't help with what precisely fails in the card, however do a Google and see what others offer. $99 is a fair price I would think.
 
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Same refresh issue

I´m having the same issue with my iMac 27 late 2009 i7. It also shows some vertical pinkish stribes.

Dont know what I show do to fix it. Making a screen shoot will render no stribes or issues with the image.

I´m afraid it is with the logic board to do... but hoping that you may have discovered something more about a solution as I´m having the exact same refresh issue.
 

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I am hoping that someone in this forum will chime in and give details how these video cards are failing. This way I can maybe decide to send it out to someone for repairs and trust that it will not just fail again. I worry because other have posted having the video card replaced for it to fail again after a short amount of time.

The repair to the card is made by re-flowing the solder. There are several YouTube videos available which show the procedure. Removing the card requires dismantling your iMac by removing the display and then removing the logic board in order to get at the graphics card. Not an easy job. Do a google search for the entire procedure.
 
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The repair to the card is made by re-flowing the solder. There are several YouTube videos available which show the procedure. Removing the card requires dismantling your iMac by removing the display and then removing the logic board in order to get at the graphics card. Not an easy job. Do a google search for the entire procedure.

If you make a screen shoot and this image is without errors (stribes, flicker and so on), then you can rule out the graphics card?
 
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if it is the graphics card you basically need a new logic board and bad news it's not cheap at all.
 

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