Video failure

I have a 27" iMac which i had bought in 2011. Three days back, it suddenly went belly up and i get only grey pin stripe lines and an endless boot loop. Tried the stuff the pundits advised but nothing worked. Called the local Apple service center and described the problem. They opined that it seemed to be a video card failure ( after checking my serial number) and that it would cost me INR 44000 (US$ 688) to replace. Wow! Half the cost that i paid for the Mac! Called Apple support for help and they advised to take it to a service center and get a diagnostics done. Did it and the result was 'Video failure'. The service center confirmed that 6870 MD Radion card had failed and that it would need to be replaced.
Understand that Apple had a (free) replacement program for such failures as they were common in 27" IMacs built during 2011- my serial number confirms that it would have been eligible for a free replacement. Unfortunately it seems that the free support ended 31st March 2017. Just 36 days before my Mac went phut.

What are my options now? I cannot afford to spend US$ 688. What gets my goat is that if Apple did know about this failure then the least it could have done is alert its customers so that we would not be left stranded. No back up either and all my data is in the hard drive. Using my daughter's PC and find it difficult.

I hate to say it but your real problem is no backup. Despite the fact that your Operating System is probably functioning it is pretty much impossible to perform a backup now unless you have already setup a Time Machine backup to run when connected to a chosen drive.
If not your only option is to remove the HDD mount it in an external drive unit and connect it to another Mac as an external drive. This will allow you to copy your important files.
I know this is not really the answer to your primary question. Other members will have to chime in here as to alternatives to the MD Radion card if there are any cheaper alternatives.
It's a shame because Apple have been known to bend the rules a little for replacement of known "problem" parts after the cutoff date, but you obviously encountered a hard ***.

Rod Sprague said:

It's a shame because Apple have been known to bend the rules a little for replacement of known "problem" parts after the cutoff date, but you obviously encountered a hard ***.

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You can say that again. The nice agent said that he would escalate my issue to his supervisor since he did not have the authority. Today is his day off and i got another agent who was not sympathetic and on my request to speak with a supervisor, put me on hold and informed me after 5 minutes that the supervisor had echoed the same decision ie:" Nothing could be done."

Good corporates would want that their customer's request for escalation are honoured. Don't know what's up here.

But thank you for your prompt answer and help.

Do you have an external monitor, you can at least plug it in and see if you can use it?

Are you near an Apple retail store? It may be a good idea to make an appointment, if close by, and plead your case to them. The store managers have allowances, where they can make exceptions for customers.

Also, since you are in the India, you might be dealing with an Apple rep and not perhaps directly with Apple. You might want to contact Apple is the US (or even Tim Cook) directly and indicate that you are literally just a month after the replacement program ended and the failure was attributed to something that would've been fixed free of charge if it happened a month or so ago.

Be sure to send along the documentation stating the video failure identified by the Apple techs.

You can email Tim Cook at [email protected]. I would suggest a even keel tone in your email to garner sympathy and action. There is a team who monitors that email address and are able to take actions on your behalf..

ferrarr said:

Do you have an external monitor, you can at least plug it in and see if you can use it?

Are you near an Apple retail store? It may be a good idea to make an appointment, if close by, and plead your case to them. The store managers have allowances, where they can make exceptions for customers.

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i do have a spare monitor, but am not sure how i plug that to the imac?

Raz0rEdge said:

You can email Tim Cook at [email protected].

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Thank you. Mailed him. Hope something comes out of this.

Be sure to send along the documentation stating the video failure identified by the Apple techs.

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I did not get any documentation. The service center told me that it is connected online with Apple and they would have received it. When i talked with the technical support agent, he confirmed that he has the results of the diagnostics. So i presume and hope Apple, USA would also have them?

I believe that iMac uses a thunderbolt port to connect external monitors. So you would need an adapter that goes from Thunderbolt to the type of monitor (Thunderbolt to DVI, VGA or HDMI). I believe some 2011 models used a Minidisplayport connector but the Thunderbolt connector works with that as well.

Hard to set up without a display and if it's the video card that's shot another display wont work either.