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iMac - Vertical bars - LCD or GPU?

I've got an early 2008 21.5" iMac that has developed vertical bars on the display, as below. Before blindly ordering parts, I'm trying to figure out if the culprit is more likely to be the LCD panel or the video card.

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Block Image

As you can see, the bars are pretty wide, and they don't seem to resemble the typical "vertical lines" issues you see on a lot of iMacs. They seem to manifest as lighter in color compared to the correct color in the surrounding areas.

btw, I already tried the well-known trick of "baking" the video card to re-flow the solder joints, to no avail. I would try testing it with an external monitor, but I don't have access to a Mini-DVI adapter.

Any advice/opinions will be much appreciated!

Answer this question I have this problem too

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You'll need to test it using an external monitor to isolate this down (Sorry).

If the external looks good then you have a display or LVDS cable issue. If the external has the same bards then the graphics card is bad.

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Thanks, Dan. As I said, I would have done this, but I don't have access to to Mini-DVI adapter.

I suppose it's worth $15 to order one, instead of playing eenie-meenie trying to figure out which part to replace.

I'll post the results here.

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Did you ever try this? I have the same issue. Thanks

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@sammyblackbaron - Its one of my first tests when I deal with display issues in iMac's

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John Beekman will be eternally grateful.
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