iMac Screen Is Dead

[Ormond]

Hello all,

I'm having the fiasco of the century with a purchase from MacOfAllTrades. Good God, no kidding, what a bozo company.

I bought an iMac from them 2 months ago. The machine came with various obvious problems, because they didn't check the machine before selling to me.

In attempt to resolve the order, they finally offered to send me a replacement machine, which they promised to thoroughly test and check before shipment.

It just arrived, and guess what? Yep, screen appears to be dead. Upon power up I hear the hard drive whirring, and the boot up chime. At one point I even heard the machine talking, I think it was part of Apple's OSX audio assist set up assistant perhaps. But screen is black, no sign of life.

Before I come to any conclusions about this new machine, please help me determine if I'm doing anything really stupid, or if there is some way to light up the screen that I haven't thought of. I've tried to adjust lighting of screen using keyboard keys, but no luck. That's all I can think of.

I still have the original iMac which is very similar to the replacement machine and had no screen issues with it.

Thanks much!

 

[Ormond]

As example, on my laptop I can use the keyboard to completely darken the screen while the machine is running. There's nothing wrong with the machine, the screen is just turned off, that's all. Someone who didn't know about that feature might think the laptop was broken.

It's a long shot, but I'm wondering if I could possibly be making a mistake of this type. Is there any valid reason why an iMac might boot in to a black screen? Or if the screen shows nothing upon boot up, am I safe in assuming the monitor portion of the iMac is dead?

The iMac can support multiple external monitors, but I doubt I can get around the dead screen that way at the moment, as the Mac is booting in to the Setup Assistant. Does this sound like a correct analysis?

I'm about to declare this machine broken, but before I do that I thought I should open my theory up to debunking by the assembled wise men.

In the good news department, the publishing rights to this attempted Mac purchase have been purchased by Disney as the basis for the plot in an upcoming crazy madcap cartoon show.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hi...

One of the display cables may have simply come loose during shipping. I have seen that happen previously.

You could try to connect an external to see if you get video there. If so, then it is probably a loose cable as I mentioned.

C

 

[Ormond]

Thanks Cory. I'll try to connect an external, that can't hurt.

If it's a loose cable then the Mac is dead as far as I'm concerned.

The real problem here is that these guys don't inspect machines before they ship them. I now know this for a fact. I tried to explain to them that quality control is how they protect their brand, and that they can have that protection for free. Just hire even a minimum wage person to spend an hour with each machine prior to shipment, and pass the $20 cost on to the customer. All the problems I've experienced with them could have been prevented in this way. This machine was probably dead before it left their warehouse.

Anyway, sorry to bore you with something you can do nothing about, and thanks for your advice. If MacOfAllTrades should come up in future discussions, you can pass my steer clear warning along if you want. Maybe some good will come of this that way.

 

[honestone]

As Cory stated, if it is a cable that came loose during shipping, that can even happen with a brand new machine. So, not sure if quality control is the issue, in this particular case.

If I were you, I'd return the machine for a refund, plain and simple.