How to Fix a Vertical Blue Line Running Across the Screen of an iMac running Mac OS X Tiger?

Question

The LCD Screen of my iMac G5 (PowerMac12,1) shows a vertical blue line, could this happen because of a DVD failure? Or is this a hardware problem - is the solution to replace the LCD screen.

Solution 1

If the monitor got shaken or jarred (say, dropped off the desk), you might just have some of the internal components out of alignment.

In that case, and if:

1. you are handy
2. the equipment is out of warranty
3. you are willing to risk making it worse, or breaking it outright

you could take it apart re-seat everything and put it back together again.

No guarantees, of course, but I fixed a similar problem (I had a horizontal line becuase the LCD was actually in two parts) on an old laptop that way once ('course, the lower panel failed outright only a few months later, take that for what you will).

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BTW: Apple tends to hide some or all of the screws under rubber bumpers and the like (to get that nice seamless look), and they will probably require smallish torx wrenches. Use a small flat head screw drive to pry up the rubber feet and see what is under them.

Solution 2

Please forget about the two answers above and know that most probably is a design defect by Apple. There is a petition to sign online with many people having the same problem and there is also a lawsuit against Apple (Google: Hovsepian v. Apple, 2009)

See the following links:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?maclines

My iMac G5 screen was replaced twice, once under Apple Care, and the 2nd by me. What a waste of money..

Comments

[miccaman]

thank you for the quick advice. i will learn to live with the line, i gives some retro touch to the shiny imac :-) BTW how can i check for corrupt drivers on osx?

[Matt Cofer]

Is the blue line there as the computer is booting or does it only appear once the OS is fully loaded? For example, to eliminate drivers, if you boot a Ubuntu Live CD does the blue line appear? If so, then it is totally unrelated to the OS and you have a hardware problem.