⟐ Answer accepted Mayıs 09, 2018 at 2:39 GMT-7

Ultimately, I want two SSD’s - a proprietary/blade NVMe SSD with between 512GB and 2 TB of storage, and a SATA SSD with between 1-2 TB. I’m not opposed to taking the entire computer/motherboard apart, but if it’s possible to just do a standard main drive upgrade, that would be preferred.

1. If I buy a standalone SSD config (no fusion/hdd), will it ship with an open port AND a SATA/Power cable sent to the spot where the usual Fusion/HDD would be? If it does NOT ship with that cable, does that mean that I will have to take apart the entire computer like in a usual blade SSD replacement to attach this cable to the motherboard?
2. If that is the case, and I DO have to take apart the entire internals of the computer to attach this SATA cable like in the blade SSD replacement, it doesn’t seem worth getting a standalone SSD config. Should I then just buy the cheapest fusion drive config and then personally upgrade the NVMe drive and SATA together (using the correct adapters and compatible NVMe drives, obviously)? I understand that the speeds are relatively similar with Apple NVMe SSD’s above 512 GB and 3rd party NVMe SSD’s - I’m mainly thinking about cost. OR should I go with a beefy Fusion Drive option (for the upgraded blade SSD) and just replace the HDD with a new SSD?

Also, the thermal detector is no longer needed on models post 2013 because of SMART technology, correct?

Thanks for your help, iFixit!

⟐ Answered Haziran 02, 2023 at 18:15 GMT-7

Thanks!!

⟐ Commented Eylül 12, 2022 at 4:24 GMT-7

⟐ Answer edited Eylül 28, 2023 at 18:01 GMT-7

⟐ Answer accepted Şubat 09, 2015 at 22:45 GMT-7

A few months ago I noticed my iMac acting strange, with my screen not refreshing and everything on the screen would have residual images. I did some searching on the apple boards, and others were saying it has to do with the fan not working properly and overheating. They recommended I used smcFanControl, which has done the trick so far. Is there a permanent fix to this? Something I can replace? Appreciate any info.

J.

⟐ Answered Ekim 23, 2016 at 18:46 GMT-7

⟐ Commented Ağustos 04, 2024 at 13:05 GMT-7

Specs

• Late 2009 27" iMac Intel Core Duo 3.06ghz
• 128GB Samsung SSD installed in place of Optical Drive.
• Stock 1TB HD
• 12GB RAM, 2x4GB and 2x2GB. The 2x2GB sticks are the stock RAM.
• OSX Yosemite.

Background Info

• I haven't used the iMac in about a month as I have a Macbook Pro from work that I use primarily.
• I turned on the iMac yesterday and the Startup was VERY SLOW, like 5 minutes.
• I looked at some forums and saw that I should make my SSD my primary boot drive. I did this and restarted but the boot time was the same.
• Next I shutdown the computer and restarted the SMC. This made the boot time a little bit faster, maybe 2 minutes but it still wasn't acceptable.
• Next I reset the NVRAM 3x and this made a significant improvement. It was now at about 25 seconds.
• When I finally logged in I opened up Photoshop and Firefox and they both just bounced on the task bar for about 2 minutes. Photoshop finally opened but Mozilla did not. I looked in the Activity Monitor and I kept getting CrashReports that were taking up 75% of the system.
• I did some googling and it seemed like I needed to run First Aid on the SSD.
• I went to Disk Utility and tried Verifying the Disk and it gave me an error saying that it could not be verified and that I would need to open it up in Recovery Mode.
• I restarted the computer and held down CMD+R and nothing happened, it just stayed on the white screen. I held down the power button until it shutdown and the powered it back up holding option. It showed that I did not have a recovery partition (even though I remember having one in the past). It did show my Samsung Drive.
• I clicked on the Samsung Partition and it loaded about halfway then shutdown.
• I tried just starting the computer up normally without holding anything down and it would do the same thing.
• I decided that I didn't have anything on the computer that I desperately needed so I was just going to reinstall Yosemite.
• I downloaded Yosemite on my MBP and made a bootable USB drive for it. (This took about 4 hours).
• I went back to my iMac and plugged the USB drive in, turned on the iMac, and held down option (expecting that it would give me the option to boot from the USB Yosemite Installer) and it chimed, the apple logo came on, the loading bar got to halfway, and it shutdown.
• I tried this about 5 times and it did the same thing.
• I tried resetting the NVRAM and it just shuts down.
• I've tried Safe Mode, resetting the SMC, option, etc. Nothing works.
• I left it unplugged over night and tried starting up this morning and I get the same thing.
• Yesterday I took out the 2x4GB ram sticks and made sure the stock 2x2GB sticks were properly seated. I tried resetting the NVRAM and it still loads halfway and then shuts down.

I don't know what else to try. When I used it more often a couple of months ago it was very fast upon start up and running memory intensive programs like Reason, Autodesk Inventor, Parallels, Ableton Live, etc.

I am very comfortable taking the computer apart I just don't know what to look for.

Thanks for the help,

Kyle

⟐ Answer edited Kasım 16, 2023 at 11:12 GMT-7

edit: after realizing that an i7 is not only excessive, but also not possible, I would like to know this: Can I put in a later generation i3? like the i3 6320?

⟐ Commented Ağustos 31, 2025 at 1:37 GMT-7

I have a Power issue with my mid 2011 iMac.

I've already opened it up. I have experience with repairing electronics, etc. But now i'm stuck. On the logic board ( Main board) :

• Diagnostic LED 1 goes ON, this seems a power-OK led to me, I measure 12v on the supply.
• If I press the power button nothing happens.
• I detached all peripherals, sdcardreader, camera, audio, hdd, speakers, etc. Still nothing.
• I checked the power button, the button and cables are OK.
• I can also measure 12v on the logic board.

Questions:

• What can keep it from powering on, what does it need?
• Does it need memory in the banks to power on, ( LED #2) ?
• Could it be a faulty CPU or GPU, does it need that to power on?
• Do all the sensors have to be connected?
• Could I detach the video card an test power without it?

The thing is I don't feel like replacing the logic board, its to expensive, I just wondered if there is any information about the "logic" which turns on the power, could I override it, so I can see where the smoke comes from ? :)..

TNX!!

Regards, Guido

⟐ Answered Ağustos 11, 2022 at 16:11 GMT-7

I need to upgrade the processor in this mac, currently its a 2.9 ghz i5 and is struggling with video encoding and some general tasks.

I have already replaced the HDD with an SSD and upgraded ram to 24gb so there is little room for improvement there.

Does anyone know which processors are compatible, i know i can just put in the top end 2012 i7 but perhaps something more recent will also work?

I read some posts that a certain TDP is needed and the FSB speeds must be compatible but im struggling to find solid info on this particular model.

Thanks!

⟐ Commented Mayıs 03, 2024 at 22:43 GMT-7

I have a 2013 iMac that has a Fusion drive. I want to replace its internal HDD with an SSD. My understanding is that I should split the Fusion drive before performing this.

I referred to the article https://www.macworld.com/article/2015664... which discusses the use of diskUtil and Core Storage to get the GUIDs and split the drive.

However, invoking disktutil coreStorage list returned ‘No CoreStorage logical volume groups found’. I then tried diskutil list, which returned more information, apparently showing the fused drives as ‘synthesized’. I read a bit about this in other discussions, and it seems like this is perhaps a Mojave/APFS version of a Core Storage Fusion config.

I’m wondering what I need to do to split my Fusion drive. Is there something else to use, or do I not even need to split the HDD/SSD before replacing the HDD?

Thanks.

-Allan

I wonder if I need to downgrade it to High Sierra, and setup the drive as HFS?

⟐ Commented Kasım 10, 2023 at 14:04 GMT-7

my iMac doesn´t start right, as soon as i hit the power button there comes a Beep, 3 x short, 3 x long, 3 x short. As far as i know it should be something about the Ram or Ram Slot. Since i tried a few different Rams and nothing changed i suppose its actually the Bank/Slot itself.

What can i do?

⟐ Commented Eylül 12, 2023 at 14:21 GMT-7

I've tried to restore the original configuration but it's the same.

There is not an exact delay time before shuts off; it can happends some minutes after startup, some hours later or some weeks later.

To restore it I need to put it in stop (with the power button) then press it again to awake it. It turn on again without any problem.

iMac 27 Mid 2010-Intel i3 3.2-2GB DDR3 Ram, OSX10.8.2,ATI Radeon HD 5670 512 MB.

Any idea?

⟐ Commented Ağustos 15, 2021 at 4:24 GMT-7

⟐ Commented Haziran 12, 2015 at 22:38 GMT-7

I wanna replace my HDD and install SSD for iMac 27 5k 2015 Late, but I don’t understand, do I need install a thermal sensor or not?

But I still do not understand why? If on so 27” 5k 2015 the hard drive does not have a cable for a temperature sensor

⟐ Commented Ağustos 21, 2025 at 19:53 GMT-7

⟐ Answered Ocak 11, 2025 at 0:32 GMT-7

I would like some insights about iMac's power supplies, especially the Early 2009 24" (A1225 EMC 2267).

I decided to tinker with an old broken iMac (machine that shuts itself down) to make it a Media Center with my Rasberry Pi and its Hifiberry + an LCD controller. But to do it right, I need to use the power supply for the screen (+ fan and why not also power the raspi).

But for that, I need two things:

The voltages (and current) of the output connectors which are obviously not standard (12 pins for the 12v-3.3v and 12 pins for the 24v that runs towards the inverter of the screen, although for the latter, I don't really care).

Know which pins to connect to activate the power supply (if I had this element, I could measure the voltages myself).

For now, I've spotted three things:

* Pin 1 = Ground

* Pin 2 = 12v always on

* Pin 4 = 3.3v always on

* Pin 6 = Ground

For the rest, I'm drying up, if you'd give me a hand, I'd be extremely grateful.

Hello,

I've made some progress in my tests, I've managed to activate the power supply!

It is sufficient to make a bridge between the ground (PIN 1,6,7,12) and the 3.3V (PIN 4), which activates pins 8, 9, 10

So we end up with these values:

On the 12V output (2x6 pins)

• Pin 1 = GND
• Pin 2 = 12VDC -> Always On
• Pin 3 = GND -> if SATA connected
• Pin 4 = 3.3VDC -> Always On -> PS_ON
• Pin 5 =?
• Pin 6 = GND
• Pin 7 = GND
• Pin 8 = 12VDC -> If On
• Pin 9 = 12VDC -> If On
• Pin 10 = 12VDC -> If On
• Pin 11 =?
• Pin 12 = GND

On the 24v output (1x12 pins)

• Pin 1 = 24VDC -> Always On
• Pin 2 = 24VDC -> Always On
• Pin 3 = 24VDC -> Always On
• Pin 4 = 24VDC -> Always On
• Pin 5 = 24VDC -> Always On
• Pin 6 = GND
• Pin 7 = GND
• Pin 8 = GND
• Pin 9 = GND
• Pin 10 = GND
• Pin 11 =?
• Pin 12 =?

A last connector is present on the power supply, it is a ground that seems to be dedicated to the 5V (it is connected to one of the SATA GNDs and to the motherboard).

We can see that this power supply only provides 12V and 24V, as surprising as it may seem, it is the motherboard that is in charge of transforming the 12V into 5V! (the cable between the power supply, the motherboard and the hard disk confirms it).

So I still have Pin 5 and 11 on the 12V port and Pin 11 and 12 on the 24V port which are a mystery (if someone has an idea, I'm a buyer)...

I found the electrical schematic of a Liteon PE324101UN-LF power supply (which also seems to be used in other iMacs), there seems to be some info, but I can only guess the usefulness of these pins....

On the 12V output (2x6 pins)

• Pin 1 >>- +12V
• Pin 2 >>- +12V
• Pin 3 >>- +12V
• Pin 4 >>- GND
• Pin 5 >>- GND
• Pin 6 >>- GND
• Pin 7 >>- +5VS
• Pin 8 >>- +5VS
• Pin 9 >>- +5VS
• Pin 10 <<<- AC_DET (Alternating Current Detection?)
• Pin 11 <<<- P_DIM (Power DIMming?)
• Pin 12 <<<- BL (LCD BackLight?)
• Pin 12 <<<- PS_ON (PowerSupply ON !)

On both 24v outputs (1x12 pins)

• Pin 1 >>- 24V
• Pin 2 >>- 24V
• Pin 3 >>- 24V
• Pin 4 >>- 24V
• Pin 5 >>- 24V
• Pin 6 >>- GND
• Pin 7 >>- GND
• Pin 8 >>- GND
• Pin 9 >>- GND
• Pin 10 >>- GND
• Pin 11 <<<- P_DIM (Power DIMMING?)
• Pin 12 <<<- BL_ON (BackLight ON?)

For AC_DET, I found this definition:

AC adapter voltage detection input. Valid AC adapter input range is set using resistors forming a voltage divider which are connected between ACDET & GND and ACDET & AC adapter.

P_DIM should reduce the output power of the 24V PINs to reduce the brightness of the display?

BL_ON, turn on the LCD?

In short, full of new questions.

Well, I finally succeeded in measuring everything I wanted.

I made a little schematic for those who would be interested.

If there's a mistake, don't hesitate to tell me.

oldturkey03> BL_ON needs to be powered in 5v to turn on the screen. For P_Dim, it's more complicated, I think it's about frequency, but the LCD converter will do it.

mayer>My power supply works very well, it is here a question of knowing what its specifications are to power a Raspberry Pi and other accessories without Apple motherboard! ;)

⟐ Answered Aralık 15, 2024 at 10:17 GMT-7

I have an iMac A1312 27"

It was working properly but NOW it turns on make the Apple CHIME. but SCREEN is totally DEAD (NO VIDEO).

At first I tought it was the POWER SUPPLY for the LCD. I changed it with a brand new ONE. NOTHING HAPPENED.

Then I started to think that it is related to the connector on the logic board and I am thinking right now to REFLOW it. What do you guys thinks?

I heard that it may be the GRAPHIC card. BUT when I use the THUNDERBOLT to an external display it works fine.

The computers works 100% fine but dont GIVE image to its own LCD.

Sometimes I think there is no energy going through the LCD cause if the CONNECTION from the LCD to the logic board is not good it stills could produce some energy like a MONITOR without anything plugged at it. DOESNT it?

PLEASE HELPPPPPPP!!

⟐ Commented Aralık 05, 2023 at 18:13 GMT-7

Is there a way to replace the Glass screen?

⟐ Commented Kasım 28, 2022 at 0:06 GMT-7