Replace/Upgrade Logic Board on a mid 2011 iMac 27"

[philly019]

Recently, a client's mid 2011 27" iMac died on him. His repair guy said it was beyond repair & worthless.

He was gonna throw it out if I didn't want it. It seemed like such a waste so I said thank you & took it home.



Physically, it looks to be in mint condition. No scratches anywhere. It powers up, the screen flickers but the iOS never launches. I have a newer 24" iMac but would love the bigger screen to do my design work on.



*** Please keep in mind I'm an old school graphic artist. I know how to use computers, not how to fix them or all the intricacies of how they work inside. Feel free to talk to me like I'm technically illiterate so I don't miss anything. I won't be offended. I just want to know if I should get rid of this machine or if there's some value left in the old thing. ***



Their repair guy told him "Your motherboard is shot. It's just fancy trash now." Was he right or might there be some other problem with it?



If he's right about the motherboard/logic board, is it worth replacing?



If so, can it be upgraded somehow & where is the best place to purchase a replacement/upgrade?



If not, is there any use for the machine as it is? Perhaps as a 2nd monitor to my existing iMac or another computer- like a Mac Mini?

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Check out the iFixit website for replacement parts and guides

 

[Fishrrman]

Before going further, try this:
1. Boot to INTERNET recovery:
Command-OPTION-R
at boot

2. If you're connecting via wifi, you'll need your wifi password. The internet utilities can take a while to load, be patient "as the globe spins".

3. Can you get to the internet utilities?

Note:
It's not "iOS" on the Mac.
It's "Mac OS".

 

[rpmurray]

I have the same model. Recently updated it to Monterey using OpenCore Legacy Patcher 0.4.4 and it works great now that they have graphics acceleration for the original 6970M GPU (no need to replace it). When you say the screen "flickers" are you seeing anything? Gray screen, folder icon, anything at all? The most likely problem is a failed video card but if it's a failed hard drive/SSD then those are relatively easy to replace in this model. If it's just the OS that needs replacing then that is even easier. If you don't want to have to deal with a newer GPU where you'd need to flash it and make modifications to the heatsink, you could just go on eBay and check for a replacement to the existing GPU. Like I said the latest OCLP works great to get these working with the latest OS.

It you're having trouble describing the issue then photos or a video would save you a thousand words. Just attach them to your reply.

 

[philly019]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to chime in. Some interesting suggestions most of which I haven't tried yet.

I'm away from home for a bit but will try all the things people suggested when I get back. I'll be sure to get back to each of you with my results.

 

[philly019]

Check out the iFixit website for replacement parts and guides

Thanks. A friend recommended that site too.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

When the repair man said: "Your logic board is shorted", he might be damned right about it.
In that case, it's not worth replacing the logic board.

Try to salvage whatever you can from it.
The most valuable part to save is the 27" 2k LCD. Check if it still working fine.
The second, is the aluminum frame and protection glass.
With these 3 parts, you can make a beautiful iMac like monitor.
The kit to test cost 27$. I bought one myself.
It also serves as the required parts to convert the LCD to a working monitor with HDMI and VGA port.
You can also buy a more luxury LCD driver board with Display Port and HDMI, cost about 72$.

 

[rpmurray]

The kit to test cost 27$. I bought one myself.
It also serves as the required parts to convert the LCD to a working monitor with HDMI and VGA port.
You can also buy a more luxury LCD driver board with Display Port and HDMI, cost about 72$.

Do you have any links for these kits?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Do you have any links for these kits?

I do.

 

[rpmurray]

I do.

Would you mind sharing those?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Would you mind sharing those?

No I wouldn't.

 

[CooperBox]

No I wouldn't.

This comes across as a somewhat confusing, contradictory reply. Do you mean:
"No I wouldn't (mind sharing)" - which means you would share, or
"No I wouldn't share"

 

[CooperBox]

@philly019
To be as helpful as possible, I can advise that to convert the LCD to a working monitor as suggested in post #7 is a very difficult modification indeed, which requires the removal of all the iMac internal components!
I note your comments that, "I know how to use computers, not how to fix them", so this is certainly not a task for you if you've never dismantled an iMac before!
Another potential showstopper is that even if you had a friend prepared to do this for you, be advised that THIS link to the required kit shows that it's no longer available. There are possibly other sellers of a similar kit, but I'm unaware of them.
Just for info (and perhaps to blow your mind) here's a LINK to the actual task being performed.

To answer your original question, is it worth buying? Yes if it's cheap. If it's being donated to you, and you're a little adventurous then definitely yes, and then try the internet recovery procedure as given by Fishrrman in post #3.

Regarding my own experience with many Mac 'repair guys', many are not all that good (I've seen myself & heard of many botched jobs), and they will shy away from repairing 2009-2011 iMacs because there's a fair amount of work involved and it's simply not worth their time or trouble, hence the all-too-popular reply, "The motherboard is shot", and more frequently, "The GPU (graphics card) is dead, your iMac is not worth repairing!"
This latter comment for keen Mac 'amateur' repairers like myself and many others is only partially true. Dead graphic cards can be changed and/or resurrected and I've had great success doing this and then passing restored 27 iMac's onto family members.

 

[rpmurray]

they will shy away from repairing 2009-2011 iMacs because there's a fair amount of work involved and it's simply not worth their time or trouble

Those earlier iMac models are much easier to get into and service than the ones from 2012 to now. The front glass is held on with magnets, so it's easy to remove. A lot of screws involved in taking it apart but if you keep them organized, so you know which goes where, it's a relatively easy job.

 

[rpmurray]

No I wouldn't.

Ah, so it's one of those, "you can do this with these inexpensive kits but I'm not going to provide you with any info about it", kind of thing. Understood.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

This comes across as a somewhat confusing, contradictory reply. Do you mean:
"No I wouldn't (mind sharing)" - which means you would share, or
"No I wouldn't share"

I'm not a native English speaker, so my answer meant the same as what my beginner English class teacher had taught me: "No, I wouldn't mind sharing them."

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Ah, so it's one of those, "you can do this with these inexpensive kits but I'm not going to provide you with any info about it", kind of thing. Understood.

No, you didn't understand.
There are more than a several billion items sold on Aliexpress.com. So far I've only got the link to the cheaper kit. Need some time to get the second (more expensive) one.
And I plan to make a new post with detailed info and guidance, with photo etc...
This take time to prepare, too.

 

[rpmurray]

No, you didn't understand.

OK. My mistake. Sorry about that.

I think there have already been a couple of threads about this process on MacRumors (and other websites), unfortunately I didn't bookmark them. The ones I've read all have the cabling going through the memory slot door (on the 27 inch iMacs) or have done surgery on the case. I've been thinking it would be kind of neat if the existing port openings could be used for the connections, but haven't had time yet to research it. I'll keep an eye out for your information. Thanks.

 

[CooperBox]

I'm not a native English speaker, so my answer meant the same as what my beginner English class teacher had taught me: "No, I wouldn't mind sharing them."

Sorry if my comment came across too sharply, no offence meant I can assure you. If only my 2nd language was as good as your English. And I'm sure your offer to eventually share will be appreciated.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

It was really fun tickling you guys.
I found both links to the kits eventually. Maybe my bigger post can wait for a little longer.
In both links, you need to know the exact model of your LCD panel, i.e. actually open your iMac and look at the back of the LCD panel. Connection guidance is already inside the seller's info.

The cheaper kit (25$ + shipping)

6.8US $ |27 '' Imac A1312 A1316 A1407 2k Lcd Controller Drive Board Monitor Display Kit For Lm270wq1 A2 C2 E3 B1 B3 Screen Test Mainboard - Pc Hardware Cables & Adapters - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Luxury kit (64$ + shipping)

78.0US $ |Lcd Controller Board Monitor Kit Edp Converter For Imac 27

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

I got myself a dead iMac 27" 2011. PSU is dead, logic board is dead, GPU is not tested yet, but it could have been the shorted out GPU that led to the death of both PSU and logic board, so I don't bother testing it anyway.
The LCD was still bright and beautiful. So I bought the cheaper kit to convert it to a hacked Apple Cinema Display.