iMac 27 , the screen goes black

I have a "late 2009" iMac 27" , 3.06 GHz core 2 , 12 gig ram , El Capitan .. Sometimes the screen will just go black .. I had the same problem about a year ago then it was fine for about 10 months .. Now it's back again .. When it does it you have to walk away for about 1/2 hour then click the mouse and it's back on until it happens again.. The Apple store said possibly the board or screen is bad.. It's not a heat issue because sometimes you don't get 30 seconds before it goes black and sometimes 1 hour , you just never know.. If your on You Tube when it happens you can hear the video fine just the screen is black , and because on You Tube it goes to the next video and next video you have to post/hold the power button on back to shut down .. This is driving me CRAZY I'm probably going to get a new iMac but I do want to sell this one , and it's hard to sell like this...

I was going to do a search on here , but I didn't know if I would have time before it goes black..

From experience you are likely to have either a defective graphics card, LCD or cable. It's unlikely the cable is simply loose as it is held in by clips on either side of the plug.

If you plug in an external monitor and have video it's likely to be the LCD or cable that has failed. Depending upon the interface of the monitor you are using you will likely need a mini display port adapter to match the monitors interface.

If you were to take your iMac to an Apple Store they wouldn't be able to repair it as your iMac is classed as vintage, Apple can no longer supply spares for it.

If you were to take your iMac to an Apple Store they wouldn't be able to repair it as your iMac is classed as vintage, Apple can no longer supply spares for it.

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At what point in time does Apple classify a machine as vintage? It seems a shame that a 2009 27" iMac will not be repaired by Apple. Realizing of course that the repair if done might be expensive and not economically feasible, however, in my opinion Apple should at least diagnose the problem and give him an estimate of cost.

A Mac can be declared vintage any time after 5 years from when it was discontinued. For instance, the Mid 2010 15" MacBook Pro was discontinued by Apple in February 2011 and became vintage a few weeks back. Once a Mac is vintage all spares other than those that are used on later models are no longer listed by Apple. It is therefore not possible to advise what the repair cost would have been prior to it being discontinued. Apple then often advises customers to contact AASP's in case they have stock. They likely have if the part is low cost, has a high failure rate, and wasn't previously an exchange part. Cables, trackpads and similar are typical. Expensive exchange items were never economically viable to keep in stock, so typically wouldn't be available. Many older Macs are still useable and will run the latest OS, I and my wife run vintage Macs. The problem arises if they need spare parts from Apple. Whatever we think of this it's Apple's policy.

Apple's 'rule of thumb' on vintage products no longer being supported is five years after a model ceased production, so a late 2009 27" model would finish in July, 2015, five years after the model was discontinued.. In some countries consumer regulations provide for a longer period. Have a read of this:-


https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201624