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BackiMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 & 2374
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Introduction
The basic procedure shown in my video has been successfully performed by others on model year 2010 & 2011 iMacs; however, the bake CANNOT be performed on late 2012 and newer “tapered edge” iMacs because their video card GPU is soldered to the main board.
I also made a SECOND VIDEO showing my second bake, which provides even more useful information such as the thermal paste I successfully used and how to apply it: https://youtu.be/6BJGLFCigdA
What you need
Video Instructions
Late 2009 iMac 27" Video Card Repair — ATI Radeon HD 4850
Not for the faint of heart and recommended only for someone who has a full day free and isn’t afraid to tinker. Since the 2009 iMac is out of warranty and non-functional with a problematic video card, there isn’t much to lose by attempting a video card repair. And while I cannot guarantee the “oven bake” method will work in every case, it did work in mine and in the case of many other people whose stories I have read online. Indeed those stories were inspiration for me to attempt the same repair. Even if one does not wish to repair the video card, this video still shows how to remove the logic board and video card and put them back in place. Be sure to watch the video on YouTube so you can read the Text Description under the video which contains important information. Within that Text Description, I post a link to a second video I made on this topic, which I recommend you watch before getting started. And don’t forget to bake at 200°C (400°F), noting the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit.
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James Wages
Member since: 09/05/2016
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jcridge - Apr 22, 2017
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I’ve got a late 2009 27" iMac with the AMD Radeon HD 4850. About six months ago my iMac would occasionally not wake up from sleep mode and I’d have to do a hard reset. As time when on this started happening more often. Then the screen started blinking black and would finally stay black and I would need to do a hard reset to get the iMac working again. Finally, even with a restart the screen would remain black. The iMac was still running in the background but the screen was blank. In Googling the issue I found that it is a common issue with the late 2009 iMac with the AMD Radeon HD 4850. All my research pointed to the video card being the issue. In doing some more research I came across this repair guide by James and decided to give it a try as I really had nothing to lose. I took my time and worked through the video several times. Long story short, once I got the system back together and started it up I had video again. This repair guide was a life saver for me. Thank you James!!!
James Wages - Apr 23, 2017
It’s wonderful to hear success stories like yours. I’m so happy to hear your Mac is back up and running again!
e-mail-patrick - May 3, 2017
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Same thing here, i have two imac 27" from 2009, one with i5 and one with i7. Both had a dead graphic Card so i baked one and put in an HD 6970 in the other one and it has finaly worked, both are back one live now!
Thank you very much for this video it helped me so much.
James Wages - May 3, 2017
Thank you for sharing your success story, Patrick! I’m so pleased to hear it!
b.b. barnsi - May 7, 2017
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Bin der Anleitung gefolgt, funktionierte auch bei meinem iMac:
iMac (27", Mitte 2011) A1312 mit GPU: AMD HD 6970
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