White Screen of Death on all Partitions (Including Recovery)

Question

iMac Intel 27" EMC 2429

Model A1312 / Mid 2011 / 2.7 & 3.1 GHz Core i5 or 3.4 GHz Core i7 Processor, ID iMac12,2

708 Questions View all

Question Closed

Bentendo @bentend0

Rep: 1

1

Posted: Jul 2, 2015

Options

White Screen of Death on all Partitions (Including Recovery)

Hi,

I have a mid 2011 27" (3.4 GHz Core i7) iMac that as of last night is throwing up the White Screen of Death about a quarter of the way into the Apple logo boot up.

I have tried booting into recovery, a Windows partition, and an SD card with bootable Yosemite ISO mounted to it... and the result is exactly the same, a WSOD about 25% into the progress bar.

I have also tried single user mode to check for modified drives, I have reset PRAM, and I have attempted Safe Mode. Again, all with the same white screen and eventual reboot.

I'm presuming/hoping that as a result of it being able to at least show me start up options such as Recovery and OSX/Win partitions, that the fault is more software than hardware. But without being able to gain access to Disc Utilities I'm up the creek!

Does anyone have any further ideas?

Thanks.

Answer this question I have this problem too

Is this a good question?

Yes No

Score 0

5 Comments:

What happens when you go into Target Mode, do you get the Target Mode Icon on the display? Have you tried using an external monitor to see if the display is just bad, I'm assuming you are getting it to boot just a white screen here.

Jul 2, 2015 by Dan

Please give us the last four digits of your serial number so we can correctly identify your system. You'll find it on the underside of the stand. With that we can tell you if your system is on a recall list.

Jul 3, 2015 by Dan

The issue occurs in both OS X and Windows. A white screen in OS X, and blue lines then black in Windows.

The last for characters of the serial are DHJW.

Jul 4, 2015 by Bentendo

iMac 27" 2.7 GHz i5 (Mid-2011)

Jul 4, 2015 by Dan

See that's what a lot of sites say, but I know when I ordered it, I upped the machine to an i7 processor and 2GB graphics card, both of which show usually on my "about this Mac" screen. I've also personally upgraded the RAM to 12GB upon its arrival in 2011.

Jul 5, 2015 by Bentendo

Add a comment

1 Answer

What happens when you go into Target Mode, do you get the Target Mode Icon on the display? Have you tried using an external monitor to see if the display is just bad, I'm assuming you are getting it to boot just a white screen here. — Dan
Please give us the last four digits of your serial number so we can correctly identify your system. You'll find it on the underside of the stand. With that we can tell you if your system is on a recall list. — Dan
The issue occurs in both OS X and Windows. A white screen in OS X, and blue lines then black in Windows.

The last for characters of the serial are DHJW. — Bentendo
See that's what a lot of sites say, but I know when I ordered it, I upped the machine to an i7 processor and 2GB graphics card, both of which show usually on my "about this Mac" screen. I've also personally upgraded the RAM to 12GB upon its arrival in 2011. — Bentendo

Bentendo @bentend0 Rep: 1 1 · Answer 1 · 2015-07-03T00:58:09-07:00

Bentendo @bentend0

Rep: 1

1

Posted: Jul 3, 2015

Options

I haven't got an external monitor to plug it into I'm afraid, other than say a HDTV but then I don't have the right cables for such a connection.

As for the white screen, when I try and boot into Windows, after the blue logo on black background disappears, the screen just stays black.

I have since read that a number of Core i7 desktops from that year had issues with their graphics cards, and that Apple are still repairing them free of charge as a result. So I'm now wondering if this could be the case and that it's going to have to be going back to Apple.

Was this answer helpful?

Yes No

Score 0

7 Comments:

OK, so you are able to boot up into Mac OS-X it's only when you launch MS Windows within BootCamp that you encounter a problem is that correct?

Jul 3, 2015 by Dan

By the S/N you have a i5 model not a i7

Jul 4, 2015 by Dan

Apple discovered some malware running under Windows could corrupt the systems firmware. Your symptoms sound similar to what we encountered but without verifying using an external bootable OS-X drive I can't tell you for sure. Apple has repaired damaged firmware under warranty. Do you have an Apple Store near you? If so you should bring your system in. Otherwise I suspect your OS is corrupted (failing HD).

Jul 4, 2015 by Dan

I've managed to borrow a MacBook Pro and thunderbolt lead so I'm hopefully tonight booting into target mode to save what I can off the HDD in my iMac. So if you think there's something I can try whilst there please suggest.

As for spec, I did on Apple's website when ordering upgrade components from what they were originally labelled for additional money. I upped the processor to the i7 and the graphics card to the 2GB option. Both of which would appear on the "about this mac" screen. I also upgraded the RAM to 12GB on the day of its arrival back in 2011.

Jul 5, 2015 by Bentendo

It's not just Windows that is an issue. Windows blue screens (similar to the error Apple report on their recall page), and both Mac partitions (OS X and Recovery) white screen and reboot.

Jul 5, 2015 by Bentendo

Show 2 more comments

Add a comment