My late '09 iMac white screen of death- help

Hello to the community.....not happy today with my mac.  My name is denyason, from the uk.
It's a 27 " quad core 2.66 ghz intel i5
                8gb 1066mhz ddr3
                2tb hard drive
It came with no cd and my SuperDrive doesn't work. 
I have the latest updates with Os lion as of 9th February 2012.
Turned on mac- stuck on white apple logo screen with spinning gear. So I entered safe mode- pressed shift and load bar springs up on apple logo screen.......does about a quarter then it disappears and nothing happens- stuck with the spinning gear again.  This is very disappointing considering I paid nearly 2 grand for this feb 2010.  Only 2 years old.  What do I do.  I only have an 1 tb external hd for backup.  If one can't even get to safe mode what do they do?  Searches say install cd but I didn't get one with mine?
Help would be great but luckily I recently got an iPad so at least I can use the web. 

Is there anyone that can help me?  I have tried Resseting the nvram/pram and nothing.  Tried shift-command-v and it just stops after a string of text?

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  • White Screen of Death Questions [PLEASE HELP!]

    If someone actually cares about my issue, they will read all of the following. Let's see how many of you are out here and how many just want to answer simple short questions for reputation.
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    I had my board shorts on when this ocurred. I went to the toilet, doing my own business. I had my iPod Touch in my bank pocket which went to about half way down my thigh. The iPod Touch at the time was facing away from my thigh. Pulling down my pants, the iPod Touch hit the tiled floor. It hardly even hit the floor, all I heard was a little click and I realised it was my iPod. It was flat at the time, I picked it up and pressed the Home button immediately to ensure it was okay. It sort of lit up like a white background, but had a very low opacity. Since it was flat, I assumed it was normal.
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    How much would a replacement screen cost?
    Should I attempty to open my iPod if they do not cover it by warranty? (I have not attempted as I don't want to void anything).
    What could be the cause and why?
    How can I retrieve that important information? (Contacts & To Do List)
    Have you got any suggestions/tips for me?
    I need this resolved guys. I'm very upset and angry over the whole situation. If a little thump on the tiles like that (it's not like I dropped it or anything) can damage the screen that much, then this devices from Apple can't be very reliable. All I'm asking for is some genuine service/help to resolve my issue. If this can be done, I will be one VERY happy person.
    Daniel

    Will Apple cover this in my warranty?
    As stated above it is not covered by the warranty as it will be deemed accidental damage.  You can try explaining what happened to somebody at the Genius Bar and they may cut you some slack and replace it at no cost.  They might not though as Apple has started to really come down hard on eliminating replacing accidentally damaged iPods at no cost.
    If they won't, what should I do?
    Again, bring it into them anyways and explain what happened.  You have nothing to lose either way.  Otherwise, you really only have 2 other options.  Send it to a third party service center to have them take a look at it and possibly repair the iPod, or do some studying online and learn how to open up the device yourself and take a look.  There are some excellent step-by-step repair guides at http://www.ifixit.com/.
    How much would a replacement screen cost?
    This depends on where or how you have it repaired.  Here is Apple's repair pricing guide.
    http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/service/prices/
    Third party repair centers will cost less and they'll actually swap out the bad part rather than just replace the entire iPod as Apple does.
    Should I attempty to open my iPod if they do not cover it by warranty? (I have not attempted as I don't want to void anything).
    If you have a warranty on it still, I wouldn't quite yet.  Take it to your local Apple store as explained above.  Otherwise, I would only if you feel comfortable working with small electronics and consider yourself handy with them. 
    What could be the cause and why?
    As stated already, it could be a damaged or loose LCD ribbon cable or the LCD screen itself is damaged.  As to what exact component, there is no way to tell.
    How can I retrieve that important information? (Contacts & To Do List)
    Make a backup of the device in iTunes before taking or sending it in for service or before you decide to open it up (if you do happen to go that route).  See here what is included in the backup of the device.
    iTunes: About iOS backups
    If you get a new or replacement device you can restore it from that backup.
    Have you got any suggestions/tips for me?
    As I have already stated numerous times, try taking it into your local Apple Store and see if there is anything can do for you such as swap it out.  Remember that they are not obligated to do so since the damage is technically accidental.  Be kind and polite when explaning what happened. You never know what could happen!
    B-rock

  • IPod Nano white screen of death - RESURRECTED! :D

    Alright, here's the deal...A friend of mine has a new iPod Nano and gave it to me because it had stopped working, and was hoping it was worth something to recover. Sorry about the long story!
    It _wouldn't_ turn on. But, when connecting it to the computer via the USB dock cable, it comes on for a few seconds on a grey-whitish screen. Then turns back off, reboots, and tries again. Step 1 step 2. Nothing.
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    I have the power! Ok, so I hooked it up to the wall charger (just put the wall connector on the USB cord) and it now beeps two times, and after about 30 seconds or so, I get to the main menu, screen still white, but I can certainly hear the click letting me know I'm 'navigating' the iPod. It doesn't appear to have any music on it, or maybe it does, but I need to connect some earphones first. Or, it supposed to be display the 'sad iPod' icon, but I just don't see it, therefor, I'm blind as to the status of it.
    I likely guess it's the battery, since every time I disconnect it, it goes dead. Yep, just looked back, still on. Yep, still menu clicking. Yep, I can start it with no problems now. Any clue what I can try to do to resolve this? Obviously it's turning on, and it seems to be doing something, it boots, (apparently) so that's a good sign.
    Please, is there any hope at all in this iPod?  At all?
    AND, IT JUST BEEPED 2 TIMES AGAIN! And I was just typing... why did it do this? (Funny thing is, how it still works!) Is that really the menu button clicking? That would explain it, I mean it only plays the menu clicking sound AFTER about 30 seconds of it 'booting' to the iPod firmware, so it obviously has some sort of life to it. If I hook up my earphones... Holy Mac! I hear music! It's alive!!! It's alive!!! Oh my man!!! Yes!
    It has hope, in a way!
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    Cool stuff, I swear on that! My favorite song was on here too!
    How to adjust the volume on the iPod Nano? I don't care, it's playing at full volume, and it's awesome!
    The sad thing is, it still has the white screen of death, and the battery is apparently fried still (or needs a good 24-hour charging).
    This iPod has been sitting dead as a dud in the storage room for a good 1 year or so, unused. And now it came back to life in a flash. Unbelievable.
    I love you Apple.

    Your problem was moisture. It was wet inside and sitting around for a year let it all dry up.
    If you get this kind of thing happening, speed the process up by putting the iPod into a zip lock baggie with a dessicant (you know those little silica pouches) or even some rice to absorb the moisture. Let it sit for a few days and it should dry it all out.
    i

  • How to deal with the "white screen of death"?

    My 1 hour old iMac (27 inch i5) just died. I had used it for less than 30 mins when it downloaded an OS update and rebooted. Then it refuses to boot, stuck in a white screen.
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    Hi anerjee;
    With a brand new Mac, personally I would not mess with it. I would take it back to Apple and ask them to fix it.
    Allan

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