Display turns gray, works after a period of time

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iMac Intel 20" EMC 2266

Model A1224 / Early 2009 / 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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Andreas B @andreasb19061

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Posted: Sep 23, 2013

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Display turns gray, works after a period of time

hello everybody,

after changing my HDD to SSD my display doesn't work properly.

It first shows a gray background after turning on my iMac (some kind of gray snow, comparable to cosmic radiation you see on analog TVs) and after a period of time I can see the screen in normal mode, colorful etc.

I already tried to unplug and re-plug the inverter cables but it didn't solve my problem.

I hope you can help me.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Dan @danj

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Posted: Sep 24, 2013

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If the 'Snow' is moving about that would be noise. I would suspect you have a bad shield connection (damaged shield) or you forgot a grounding screw.

Yes it could be on the logic board or display frame.

Look at the foil covers are they missing or damaged? Lastly, there are filtering capacitors all along the ground plane of the logic board make sure they are not damaged or missing. Use the IFIXIT pictures to review the components.

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7 Comments:

How can I check if the shield connection is ok?

Do you mean one of those grounding screws located on the mainboard or those ones placed on the display frame?

Sep 27, 2013 by Andreas B

Hey guys,

got some additional informations for you:

after the Mac OS is loaded, I can turn off the display and immediately turn it on again. After this procedure all the snow is gone and everything seems to work fine.

I already checked all those screws and couldn't find any missing screws.

Any other idea?

Nov 8, 2013 by Andreas B

I'm thinking the GPU is going (or a bad ground on it). Do you have an external display you can plug it? See if the snow shows up on it in the same manor.

Nov 10, 2013 by Dan

Hey guys, recently, I connected an external monitor (using a mini display port to DVI adapter), worked fine, no "snow" or anything while the main display still had the same problem.

Any other ideas how to find out the cause of my problem?

Feb 18, 2014 by Andreas B

Thats not good, but better than the GPU failing ;-} If the internal LCD display is only showing the snow then its the LCD and/or the LDVS cable is bad. Did you bang the system at all or drop it? If you did it's likely the LCD. The easiest way to fix this replacing the entire lid assembly.

Feb 18, 2014 by Dan

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How can I check if the shield connection is ok?

Do you mean one of those grounding screws located on the mainboard or those ones placed on the display frame? — Andreas B
Hey guys,

got some additional informations for you:

after the Mac OS is loaded, I can turn off the display and immediately turn it on again. After this procedure all the snow is gone and everything seems to work fine.

I already checked all those screws and couldn't find any missing screws.

Any other idea? — Andreas B
I'm thinking the GPU is going (or a bad ground on it). Do you have an external display you can plug it? See if the snow shows up on it in the same manor. — Dan
Hey guys, recently, I connected an external monitor (using a mini display port to DVI adapter), worked fine, no "snow" or anything while the main display still had the same problem.

Any other ideas how to find out the cause of my problem? — Andreas B
Thats not good, but better than the GPU failing ;-} If the internal LCD display is only showing the snow then its the LCD and/or the LDVS cable is bad. Did you bang the system at all or drop it? If you did it's likely the LCD. The easiest way to fix this replacing the entire lid assembly. — Dan