My iMac Screen Fell Off!

About a month ago, I replaced the factory HDD in my late-2012 27" iMac with an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD, which btw was the best $370 I've spent in a long time. I am a very anal person, and followed their instructions to a T, including the complete removal of the old display adhesive and the application of the new adhesive strips. Well apparently I did something wrong or the adhesive strips I got with the OWC SSD kit are not strong enough, because a few minutes ago, I heard a crash, and my iMac screen had fallen flat on its face over my keyboard and mouse. I stood their in disbelief for about 30 seconds with my mouth gaping open, and then lifted the screen, fully expecting to see a crack. But to my relief, the screen was fine. And by some other miracle, the two screen cables were also fine. I reattached the screen, this time also wrapping some clear heavy-duty tape around the screen side edges for additional support. I boot up the iMac (which thanks to the SDD now takes about 10 seconds), and thank God the display came right on and exhibits no symptoms of any trauma.

So, this is a happy ending, but I am in disbelief that the adhesive failed. Maybe it the screen edges needed to be clamped down and the adhesive needed to set overnight or something, but the instructions made no mention of any such procedure. I did press very firmly across the screen edges multiple times and there were no visible gaps anywhere. Just glad right now I'm not having to shell out any more money to repair or replace this iMac!

You indeed were very lucky. You probably should give OWC support a call and let them know what happened. I would also ask them to send you another set of adhesive strips.

chscag said:

You indeed were very lucky. You probably should give OWC support a call and let them know what happened. I would also ask them to send you another set of adhesive strips.

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Good advice.
I have found OWC to be very responsive in the few dealings I have had with them.

Yes, I'm going to let them know, but I'm not taking another chance with their adhesive strips. The clear tape around the outside edges, though not ideal cosmetically, will keep this from happening again.

That is a pretty story. Mine goes a little differently though... I was playing civilization V on my iMac 27 inch late 2012 with a portable 500gb ssd upgrade to make it go faster because I didn’t want to go through the process of removing the screen and what do you know.. just 1 hour ago out of no where my screen falls out.. it crack in the top corner and left a huge crack down the middle... now I have to buy a replacement lcd because you can’t just replace the glass.. if anyone knows where I can buy one for cheap that would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

By cheap you mean around $500? Or try eBay and such for a machine being sold for parts maybe.

Welcome to our forums.

just 1 hour ago out of no where my screen falls out.. it crack in the top corner and left a huge crack down the middle... now I have to buy a replacement lcd because you can’t just replace the glass.. if anyone knows where I can buy one for cheap that would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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Apple just this past week declared that the 2012 iMacs were now considered "vintage" at the end of Jan 2019. https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/vintage-and-obsolete/

Which means they won't repair it for you. However, considering that a new screen might be fairly expensive, you might want to consider buying a newer machine instead. Of course that depends on you and how much you would like to spend.

Here are some places that sell Apple parts other than eBay:

Mac Repair - Mac Parts and Service for Apple Macbook, iPhone, iPad

MacPartsOnline.com - The Apple Parts & Mac Parts Store

Yes I just realized they cost about $750 brand new. I looked into the iMacs being sold for parts and most of the screens are broken on them that’s why they’re being sold.

For some reason I never saw this thread till now.

I also read a person who got the iFixit strips and had their display later fall out. Either it's the strips iFixit and OWC are selling or people are not either putting them in correctly or not putting a lot of pressure around the edge of the display so it will seat with the new Strips. That is my thought anyway.

Yes, the only thing is That I bought it from a store that refurbished iMacs so it was them putting the adhesive in not me. I’m going to take it to them and tell them what happened but I doubt they will do anything about it. I’m oooking at a 2013 iMac 3.4 ghz 1TB ssd NVIDIA gtx 780 with 16gig of ram for $1,600. That’s twice as much as what it would cost to replace the screen on an iMac with lesser specs and a year behind... I don’t have the money for it but it seems like the best bang for my buck at the moment.

dtravis7 said:

For some reason I never saw this thread till now.

I also read a person who got the iFixit strips and had their display later fall out. Either it's the strips iFixit and OWC are selling or people are not either putting them in correctly or not putting a lot of pressure around the edge of the display so it will seat with the new Strips. That is my thought anyway.

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If I could go back in time, I would have bought a ton of A-clamps to clamp around the edge of the screen overnight, but the instructions never said clamping or even setting time was necessary:

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_27inch_late_2012_ssd/
(skip to 17:13 in the video)

You can now carefully lower the display into place, making sure you have the edges lined up correctly. Gently squeeze along the edges to make sure the adhesive sticks.

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That's all they say.

usagora said:

If I could go back in time, I would have bought a ton of A-clamps to clamp around the edge of the screen overnight, but the instructions never said clamping or even setting time was necessary:

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_27inch_late_2012_ssd/
(skip to 17:13 in the video)


That's all they say.

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Interesting and thanks for that info.

All I know is it has to be stuck very well to the strips or it might break loose as that Display panel is not light since it's all one piece. You have to me a very good idea there about clamping it all around the glass overnight. I truly wish Apple stuck with the Magnets like the slightly older iMacs. That worked great and the glass was separate in case it ever did break. Buying the whole assembly is a lot of $$$!

Thank you again for that idea. I had to purchase a newer iMac to run Mojave and it has a 1TB 2.5" drive which someday I would like to replace with a SSD.

dtravis7 said:

Interesting and thanks for that info.

All I know is it has to be stuck very well to the strips or it might break loose as that Display panel is not light since it's all one piece. You have to me a very good idea there about clamping it all around the glass overnight. I truly wish Apple stuck with the Magnets like the slightly older iMacs. That worked great and the glass was separate in case it ever did break. Buying the whole assembly is a lot of $$$!

Thank you again for that idea. I had to purchase a newer iMac to run Mojave and it has a 1TB 2.5" drive which someday I would like to replace with a SSD.

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No problem. It was actually a fun project for me (except for the screen falling off later, of course!) and felt good to blow out the cloud of dust that had accumulated inside the casing over 5 years of use.