Replaced Hard Drive screen won't turn on.

[tvoe1]

Hi, I was wondering if any one has any suggestions to my current dilemma. I replaced my old hard drive on my iMac 2010 with a new Samsung SSD. Everything went smoothly. However, right before putting back all the screws, I decided to turn on the computer just to make sure everything was working. Turns out, the computer turns on but the screen doesn't. It's just black. I brought an external Dell monitor, I plugged it in and it works perfectly fine. When I go into my screen settings it detects that it's a Dell monitor, but shows no trace of the actual iMac monitor. I went back and checked the connections on my iMac's monitor, and I could swear everything is correct. My only other opinion is that maybe one of the wires is plugged in backwards? IDK. The data cable gave me a little bit of trouble plugging it in, but not much. It was mostly because I was using one hand to hold the screen and the 2nd to plug it in.

Any ideas what could of gone wrong or what to check for? I was wondering if I have to fully assemble the entire pieces back together for it to work.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

It could be that the display cable isn’t properly seated in the system board, or that maybe the cable was damaged and so it won’t work anymore. I would check iFixit for the tear down pics to see how everything should be connected.

 

[zackkmac]

I just did a CPU swap on my 2008 20" last night and had this exact same issue. I'm not exactly sure what caused it but it suddenly started working again after I fully disassembled it once more and made 110% sure everything was plugged in. I even reseated the GPU card (but that shouldn't be necessary for your HD swap) since I did have to disconnect it when changing the CPU but it looked fine as it was. Maybe you bumped it in yours?

 

[tvoe1]

So after hours of frustration yesterday I decided to take a break. This morning I went back and pulled the computer apart again. I went to Staples and bought myself a magnifying glass. Upon inspecting the connections, I THINK I might have chipped the Data Cable from the LCD but I'm not sure because I don't know what it's supposed to look like to begin with (if anyone knows, let me know). I also tried plugging it in and checked the 4 LCD lights on the mother board. It turns out only 3 lights are coming up. I found a different forum where it explains the meaning of each light. It contradicts my theory of a broken Data Cable, so I'm confused. But based on my pictures, I think I'm going to start by replacing the Data Cable first. See 3 pics attached.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2389+Hard+Drive+Replacement/6284
See the comments here on #7. Sounds like the cable is fairly fragile, as is the socket it plugs into. Hopefully just a cable replacement can get you back in business and it’s not a broken socket.