Fix an imac monitor getting partially grey

I have a 27" iMAC. The monitor is darkening (turning grey) on one corner of the screen. The backlights seem to be going out. Sometimes it is OK and most of the time now it stays grey. Does this mean I need to replace the monitor or is there a repair for this?

Ah. I'm not able to run the hardware test because it only works on the main screen. There's no obvious way to switch to an external monitor when AHT is running, which is ridiculous if the hardware fault concerns the screen! The problem isn't with the backlight - there is no dimmed image on the screen, it is just off.
I'll just have to use it with an external monitor, I guess - which defeats the purpose of buying an iMac!
Thanks for your help, though.

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IMac froze while surfing web last night (color pinwheel), I forced quit and now when rebooting the fan and chime come on, the monitor stays on grey and the apple sign is replaced by a stop sign and I can't get past this, is there self fix? Never backed up

iMac froze while surfing web last night (color pinwheel), I forced quit and now when rebooting the fan and chime come on, the monitor stays on grey and the apple sign is replaced by a stop sign and I can't get past this, is there self fix? Never backed up.
The computer (top / back of monitor) gets really hot within minutes.

How old is the iMac?
With no backup, you have probably lost all your data.
Sounds like serious hardware problem for which you are going to have to take it to Apple for an estimate of repairs.
Allan

How do i get iMac to move past grey screen.

How do i get iMac to move past grey screen.

Reinstalling Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

Please help.. I have just tried to install lion on my iMac and it can't complete because of 'disk error'.. can i delete lion and go back to leopard as there was no problem there?? can't get past grey screen

Please help.. I have just tried to install lion on my iMac and it can't complete because of 'disk error'.. can i delete lion and go back to leopard as there was no problem there?? can't get past grey screen

Just restore your bootable backup/clone or Time Machine backup.

IMac monitor (my parents), the greys are so light and faint, they are almost impossible to see. especially in icalendar. i've gone into system preferences and i think i've tried everything there and checked the forums. no luck. any other suggestions?

monitor too faint to read. the greays on my monitor are so faint, they're almost impossible to see. especially the numbers of the dates in ical.
i've gone to system preferences and contrast controls. but no luck. any other suggestions? thank you

Thank you. I didn't know about the universal access adjustment. All the way left is a little better, but still much fainter than on my own imac. I'm not sure why apple uses grey typeface, but it's so faint on this imac monitor that it was difficult to find the "reply" option on this post. Are there any other suggestions? thank you

Thought I had it fixed, by iMac is still freezing sometimes on boot up

In an earlier post, I thought we had my iMac fixed but now it's still freezing up on boot up, occasionally.
Sometimes I'll just get a grey screen with no logo after the boot up chime, sometimes it'll take a good minute or two for my iMac to fully boot up, and sometimes it'll boot just fine.
Usually, when I get just the grey screen I have to use the Command-Control-Power button to reset the Mac just to boot.
Any ideas as to why? I've repaired the hard disk after the first time this happened and it found no errors.
I read my console log and there's nothing glaring out that looks like a massive error.
I have been getting the following errors, could they be the problem?
BootCacheControl: could not stop cache/fetch history: Cannot allocate memory
vmnet: Hub 1 does not exist, allocating memory.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As a follow up to this.
I booted from CD and ran disk utility. I repaired the disk and said everything was A-ok. I tried to repair disk permissions and it the progress bar froze a 1/3rd of the way in saying "1 minute remaining" and never moved after that.
ideas?

In IMovie my project view is fine until it is finalized and then images are getting partially cut off on top(people's heads etc) Is there something I can do?

In IMovie my project view is fine until it is finalized and then images are getting partially cut off on top(people's heads etc) Is there something I can do?

My issue turned out possibly being a larger problem.
All of a sudden the server is in a bad, bad way. 30 minutes to get booted to the login screen. If I try to login I get beachballs for half a second at a time. I type login/password, the screen refreshes and I'm back to the login screen. I can't connect a keyboard/mouse directly to it, because it wants to do the keyboard recognition (I'm not using an Apple keyboard because they're all Bluetooth and I can't get in to do the Bluetooth sync). I can't do Disk Utility, because I can't connect a keyboard to do the key shortcut. I can't do Hardware Test, because I can't connect a keyboard to do the key shortcut. Can't reinstall Snow Leopard Server, because in their infinite wisdom Apple has removed the optical drive, and even if I had the optical, it wouldn't do any good because I can't connect a keyboard to do the key shortcut that would allow me to boot from the DVD.
I tried to do target disk override from Remote Desktop but it won't let me choose my other Mac's Remote Disc as a boot option. It also continues to show the Server as "Offline" even though power is on and it's on the network.
I would do my 2010 Air's USB drive - just to do a Disk Utility and see if it's a drive problem - but I can't tell the Server to boot from the USB stick.
Tried using my iMac as a monitor, that worked for a while, now it just flashes and then goes back to the iMac.
I'm thinking the logic board on this thing is about to die. Which is unfortunate, since my company opted out of AppleCare for this piece of equipment, and the 1 year expired last month. So...if the repair is going to end up being $800, they're going to have to pony up for a new server.

IMac monitor goes dark; 2nd monitor ok

I have a dual monitor setup on my iMac (2009) running Snow Leopard (10.6.8). The iMac monitor had been working great, but now it goes to a black screen. I am able to access it briefly (for about a second) by lightly pressing the power button on the back. The iMac monitor flashes on briefly when I do this and I'm able to quickly click on user. I used this same method to open Settings and drag it over to the 2nd monitor to change the display setting to Mirror mode, so I'd have access to the dock on the 2nd monitor (Dell 2007WFP).
I have tried the following so far:
     checked cables
     restarted by powering off, pressing on/off button for 5 seconds, unplugging for 15 seconds.
     booted in Safe Mode
     reset PRAM (I believe this was reset, but I don't know for sure because I couldn't see anything on the monitors.)
Other information:
     2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
     8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
     NVIDIA GeForce 9400
Thank you in advance for help with this issue!

Replacing FBDIMMs would be today inexpensive and worth doing.
No one knows if heat is an issue without your using thermal sensor monitor. Probably want to up the default fan speeds while at it.
And because you don't have Lion+ then even more reason to setup a small maintenace volume on another drive with OS X basic system for repairs. In fact you should always have a bootable backup or two you can rely on.
Restarting may work, or it may be you have now new issue with corrupt fies or directory that a safe boot even is no guarantee of fixing.
When in doubt, try a clean new OS install on another drive.
And FBDIMMs: $25 for a 2x2GB set on Amazon.com
You want to get the most out of what you have, a small investment in RAM, maybe recycle those drives for 2-4TB units. And an SSD will have system responding better and perform better.
My guess, the 5870 wasn't needed and was overkill and a 5770 for almost half would have been more than adequate.

IMac really stuck at grey screen - tried everything

Hi,
everytime I try to boot my iMac it gets stuck at the first grey screen. No logo, no loader, nothing but a grey screen.
I have tried everything here > http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570 > with no results. The grey screen remains there, with no changes.
The only thing that seems to work, but only for a seconds, is holding the option (alt) key at startup. After a few seconds, the pointer of the mouse appears. And then, a few seconds later, it gets stuck too. That's the farthest I've managed to get.
I can insert and get install DVDs back, but they don't seem to load.
I've tried also DiskWarrior, with the same results.
Any ideas?

Hey jflam sorry to hear that. I know how frustrating that can be. One thing that the article doesn't mention that I'd try is repairing the disk from single user mode.
Boot to single user mode by holding down command-S at startup.
-If it works right it should take you to a black screen w/ white letters.
-Then just follow the steps in from this website. http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/mac_support/mac_help/pages/0009-fsck_su_disk _repair.html
-Make sure if it tells you the disk has been modified that you repeat the command.
-If it says it's ok or if you can't boot to single user mode then it sounds like a hardware problem. You'd have to take the computer into an Apple Retail Store or Authorized Apple Service Provider to get your options on how to fix it.
Best of luck!

IMac starts up with grey screen, shows logo, then the fans blast on

My iMac won't fully boot up. When I start it, I get a grey screen, then the logo appears. Then the fans start blowing full blast and keep going. It never gets past that.
I ran disk utility on it from an OSX boot disc. I'm running Drive Genius on it now and so far, nothing major has been found. I tried zapping PRAM, nothing. I've had problems with the fans in the past and Apple had to replace the logic board.
Any ideas?

In addition to the PRAM reset that you mentioned, try using the PMU reset procedure.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1712
You can also try starting up in Safe Mode (hold down Shift key at startup).
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
If it starts up in Safe Mode, you should back up your personal data (in case your drive is becoming faulty). Then try a normal boot again, to see if the Safe Boot fixed anything.

Does the iMac G5 get too hot?

Greetings to all.
I would like to start a thread about the iMac G5 and heat. I found a few old threads, but I would like to bring that topic up again.
I have a 1st Generation iMac G5 (purchased end November 2004). For the second time since November 2004, it was defective and the Logicboard was replaced (so my Apple Dealer told me).
First time, in November 2005, the screen went pink. Second time, earlier this month, my Mac didn't boot anymore.
The full amount for the repair (including shipping to Apple (Belgium), work hours, etc.) was over 500.00 euro (about 700 USD for you, Americans).
I believe that the iMac G5 (at least: my 1st Gen one) is simply getting too warm.
The day before, I installed "Hardware Monitor". It gave the following (average) temperatures:
CPU: 60.6 - 63.8° Celsius (141-164° F)
HD: 57.5° C (135.5° F)
It is my opinion that the (my) iMac is getting too hot to be "healthy". I have 2 PC's, in which I installed extra fans (at the back and at the side). One of these, with an Athlon64 3000+ (1.8 GHz) and a 120 Gb Seagate Barracuda gives (average) temperatures for the:
CPU: 36.5° C (97.5° F)
HD: 26° C (78.5° F)
My second PC, an old (modded) HP Vectra, with an Intel P4 at 1.6 GHz and a 80 Gb Seagate Barracuda, gives as average temperature (HD only):
HD: 37° C (98° F)
It may not be correct to compare my iMac with PC's - but harddisks are harddisks, wheather it is a Western Digital (250 HD in my Mac) or a Seagate (PC HD's), and it is only logical that a(n average) HD temperature of 57 degrees Celsius (128° F) in the long term can not be healthy, while the harddisks of my PC's are a lot, lot cooler.
The PPC, too, gets much hotter than my Athlon CPU (and the P4 most likely too).
Therefor: is my suspicion correct that the/my iMac G5 in general is getting too hot for its own good? Even though it may be summer here (Belgium), I still find such a difference in heat values between my iMac and my PC's not "right".
Both the times that my iMac was defective, the Logicboard was replaced.
Is it possible that in both cases heat is the problem (directly or indirectly) of the defects of my iMac?
Basically we have a desktop computer constructed like a laptop, with all the hardware stuffed together in a very tight space. Why did they not keep the heat issue more in mind, when the iMac G5 was designed?
I believe that the heat is a very negative factor in the/my iMac G5. If I will have to pay such a small fortune, every time my Mac breaks down, being a Mac owner will become quite expensive.
iMac G5 (PPC), 17-inch, Superdrive, Mac OS X (10.4.10) 1.5 GB RAM, 250 Gb Western Digital HD
iMac G5 (PPC), 17-inch, Superdrive, Mac OS X (10.4.10) 1.5 GB RAM, 250 Gb WesternDigital HD
iMac G5 (PPC), 17-inch, Superdrive, Mac OS X (10.4.10) 1.5 GB RAM, 250 Gb WesternDigital HD

Your Mac should have been repaired under the Apple power supply or video and power issues as long as your serial numbers were covered.
As far as normal operating temps are concerned, my Rev A is at this moment, running at CPU T-Diode 144∘and my Hard Drive is at 128∘so your temperatures seem well within normal ranges.
Yes, the machines tend to run a bit hot, but as long as the ambient temperature is not too high, they are fine. The failures were originally cause by a bad batch of capacitors but since those have mostly been replaced, the machines are much more reliable.
Some people train a small fan on the back of the computer to keep it cool, that may help you.
Miriam

I'm getting the grey screen during start up and can't boot the computer. I did a cmnd R but worried it would automatically wipe my hard drive and reinstall OS. Is there a risk at cmnd R will result in wiped HD without me actively making that choice?

I'm getting the grey screen during start up and can't boot the computer - MacBook Pro with lion.
I did a command r after doing some research but got nervous that it would automatically wipe my hard drive and reinstall OS.
I was nervous because it asked me for language for software use before any options were presented (such as repair via disk utility). It looked similar to an OS install.So I powered off....Is there a risk at command r will result in wiped HD without me actively making that choice?

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is
three times faster than wireless.

Hi, i have tryed to install os x leopard, (its a old imac) , disk utility is greyed out , my install dvd cant find any hdd to install on , my only way to format and configure is through terminal but dont know what commands to execute

hi, i have tryed to install os x leopard, (its a old imac) , disk utility is greyed out , my install dvd cant find any hdd to install on , my only way to format and configure is through terminal but dont know what commands to execute...
i tryed diffrent commands such as diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ Disk1
diskutil list , wont show up my harddrive , i now its functionally cause it shows up in disk utility with name and i can get info about it , but everything is greyed out can only switch between "erase , partition , recover , Raid ,....
when i click the apple in the top left corner the whole menu is greyed out... what to do ? help me please
Sincerly AppleNoob92
p.s i have no experience in apple imac's at all never used before, but im kinda windows nerd so computers i understand but this imac make my insane, cant seem to find any solutions anywhere on the WWW....

Your HD may be crashed, so you probably should use the oringinal install discs to run Apple Hardware Test in extended mode. If error codes appear this confirms a hardware failure. In addition you cannnot repair the HD using Disk Utility from the startup disk, you have to use the origninal Install discs that shipped with the computer or the most up-to-date version of OS X on a disc that you have.

Apple Macbook 13.3" Laptop-Black 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo will not boot up and instead I get a grey screen with a folder and a question mark over it.

My Apple Macbook 13.3" Laptop-Black 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo will not boot up and instead I get a grey screen with a folder and a question mark over it. I've tried Option key, and Control S keys and it still will not boop up. Can anyone help?

If you are running Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you are running Lion or later:
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it isthree times faster than wireless.

Why do I have to restart iTunes on my iMac to get Home Sharing to work again on my ATV2 and ATV3?

Last week I ordered two more Apple TVs 3rd generation. I have connected them to my network and the ATV2 that I had, seems to be working differently. I have to restart my iTunes on my iMac to get Home Sharing to work again. I go to Apple Support and reference this page (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2972) and it seems to be the only solution, reset iTunes.
I currently have all apple products from end to end. This doesn't seem to be working out as seamless as it should. Any suggestions?

Until Apple gets off their butts to fix this, you can do this. Create a workflow that 1. Closes iTunes, 2. Pauses 10 seconds, 3. Opens iTunes. Then Save it as an Application.
Then...
Create an Apple Script by "recording yourself" launching your new workflow. Save that Apple Script.
Finally..
Go into Mail, and create a Rule that when you receive an email with the subject as "Restart iTunes" it will run your Apple Script (wchich launches your workflow app).
Just send yourself an email from you chair!!! :-) Please reply if this works for you. It works GREAT for me on Mountain Lion!
Enjoy!
Jason

Fix an imac monitor getting partially grey

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