Hey guys,
Bit of a back story. I bought my Mid-2011 iMac 27" from Apple in 2012. Everything was great until 2015 when it started having the infamous graphics issue (symptoms included artifacts on screen, vertical bars, or full on white screen).
Apple did recognize this as a "known issue" in my Mac and replaced the graphics card (AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1GB) free of charge even though the machine was out of warranty. Great!
Now, 4 years later the same issue is back. However at this point, Apple says the machine is "vintage" (5+ years by definition from Apple) and they no longer stock parts for it, so even if I wanted to pay for a repair I'm out of luck. I did have a tech look at it at an Apple store, and their diagnostics didn't show any issues (apart from it having non-Apple RAM). The tech told me that:
- Given the original graphics card was replaced, this issue would not be strictly the same as the original one. Their hardware diagnostics are specifically designed to look for the original "known issue" with these graphics cards, so just because it's not detecting a graphics issue doesn't mean there isn't one.
- Although unlikely, the non-Apple RAM could also be the culprit
- Assuming it is a video card issue my only option would be a third-party repair or replacement. He did mention that there may have been third party manufacturers making cards that work for the iMac, so there could be a chance of finding a new third-party part.
How likely do you think this is due to the RAM? Are there any other low-hanging-fruit I can try myself to diagnose/repair this thing? And has anyone heard of these "third-party" graphics card alternatives?
I realize it's an "old machine" but apart from the described issue I don't really have any problem using it for another x number of years, and I'd hate to throw away an otherwise good machine just because of one issue.
I've considered going to a new iMac as well, but the fact that Apple refuses to stock parts for or repair any machine older than 5 years means that they effectively expect their customers to buy a new machine every 5 years which is not the kind of thing you expect when buying an expensive, "high quality" product.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Bit of a back story. I bought my Mid-2011 iMac 27" from Apple in 2012. Everything was great until 2015 when it started having the infamous graphics issue (symptoms included artifacts on screen, vertical bars, or full on white screen).
Apple did recognize this as a "known issue" in my Mac and replaced the graphics card (AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1GB) free of charge even though the machine was out of warranty. Great!
Now, 4 years later the same issue is back. However at this point, Apple says the machine is "vintage" (5+ years by definition from Apple) and they no longer stock parts for it, so even if I wanted to pay for a repair I'm out of luck. I did have a tech look at it at an Apple store, and their diagnostics didn't show any issues (apart from it having non-Apple RAM). The tech told me that:
- Given the original graphics card was replaced, this issue would not be strictly the same as the original one. Their hardware diagnostics are specifically designed to look for the original "known issue" with these graphics cards, so just because it's not detecting a graphics issue doesn't mean there isn't one.
- Although unlikely, the non-Apple RAM could also be the culprit
- Assuming it is a video card issue my only option would be a third-party repair or replacement. He did mention that there may have been third party manufacturers making cards that work for the iMac, so there could be a chance of finding a new third-party part.
How likely do you think this is due to the RAM? Are there any other low-hanging-fruit I can try myself to diagnose/repair this thing? And has anyone heard of these "third-party" graphics card alternatives?
I realize it's an "old machine" but apart from the described issue I don't really have any problem using it for another x number of years, and I'd hate to throw away an otherwise good machine just because of one issue.
I've considered going to a new iMac as well, but the fact that Apple refuses to stock parts for or repair any machine older than 5 years means that they effectively expect their customers to buy a new machine every 5 years which is not the kind of thing you expect when buying an expensive, "high quality" product.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!