Mr Mo-Fo

Q: Design fault? 27" 2013 iMac stand just gave up!

Hi all,

I was just sitting watching TV when there was a loud crack and my iMac screen suddenly tilted down - now the screen will not stay where it is tilted / positioned. I was not using the mac at the time and it was not doing anything it just broke on its own. The mac was only bought in February and has not been moved or tilted once it was in place. This looks like a major design flaw to me as a 10 month mac just fails on its own! Has anyone else suffered this malfunction?

I have yet to contact apple as the store will be closed now but am interested to know if anyone else has suffered the same problem and what apples response was?

 

I will keep you guys posted once I have spoken to Apple

 

<Edited by Host>

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), Stand failure

Posted on Mar 18, 2014 3:40 PM

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Q: Design fault? 27" 2013 iMac stand just gave up!

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  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Jul 19, 2014 6:46 PM in response to DegzFX
    Level 9 (58,598 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 19, 2014 6:46 PM in response to DegzFX

    DegzFX wrote:

     

    Want to add another to the list,

     

    I just went out shopping for about 3 hours come back and my iMac 27" was flopped forward, i tried pushing it back and just tilted back,

    my iMac is about year and half years old never gets moved used for graphic design.

     

    how can these be fixed?

    If you have AppleCare this will be very simple, call them explain the situation and if you are within 50 miles of an AASP you can request in-home service. If you do not have AppleCare take it to your local Apple Store and take it in for service.

  • by ccyrils,

    ccyrils ccyrils Jul 20, 2014 1:53 AM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2014 1:53 AM in response to rkaufmann87

    If you are under apple care, and if you are near to any service centre, then you are lucky.. from different feedbacks, i understand, a complete teardown of your mac is required to fix this issue..

  • by Your becoming self,

    Your becoming self Your becoming self Jul 21, 2014 8:45 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 21, 2014 8:45 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    Hello.  I feel your frustration--I did.  I came up with a primitive, very low tech solution.

     

    I took a small piece of dowel and pushed it through the opening in the back until it tilted the monitor to my liking.  I placed a small vice grip plier at a point inside the hole so it would keep the dowel in place.  That also allows those who want to vary the tilt to do so with some ease.

     

    I feel sure you will have some materials around your home which will work just as well: a pencil not a dowel and a strong, spring clothes pin not the pliers for example.

     

    I hope this helps.

  • by Marco Falchero,

    Marco Falchero Marco Falchero Jul 28, 2014 1:19 AM in response to Mr Mo-Fo
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 28, 2014 1:19 AM in response to Mr Mo-Fo

    Same thing happened yesterday night to my 27" iMac purchased in November 2013.

    Contacted Apple Support and made an appointment to take it to the closest Genius Bar tonight.

    Let's see their answer on the issue, this looks like to be not the first case...


  • by tlatham,

    tlatham tlatham Jul 28, 2014 1:35 AM in response to Mr Mo-Fo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2014 1:35 AM in response to Mr Mo-Fo

    Well, my 27" iMac screen is now tilting. I didn't hear a crack but left for a few hours and now the screen  doesn't hold position. Mine is a late 2013 model (November). So figure that, happened yesterday afternoon. Have 3.5" paper towel spindle holding it level for now until I get to the Service for repair. Did  find in the forum archives a few incidences of this nature. 

  • by EpicGrey,

    EpicGrey EpicGrey Jul 28, 2014 1:11 PM in response to Mr Mo-Fo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2014 1:11 PM in response to Mr Mo-Fo

    Add mine to the list. 27" iMac purchased in November 2013. Im holding it in place with a bottle of vitamins and blu tack. Ive got a 4 day wait for a genius appointment. Hopefully they don't keep hold of it for too long.

  • by TickledPink,

    TickledPink TickledPink Jul 28, 2014 1:19 PM in response to EpicGrey
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2014 1:19 PM in response to EpicGrey

    They will probably need a part and will not have it in stock. They had to special order the part. I suggest you ask them to get the part in stock first before you drop it off or it will sit.   The repair to mine was done in my office - they came to me.  Great service.    The repair is 2-3 hours.

  • by EpicGrey,

    EpicGrey EpicGrey Jul 28, 2014 1:44 PM in response to TickledPink
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2014 1:44 PM in response to TickledPink

    Thanks Tickled Pink, thats a good idea. I'll ask them if they can get the part in beforehand. Im in the UK i don't think they come out and do repairs. They did offer to collect and return my iMac, but I can't be without it for a week.

     

    Do you happen to know which part it is thats damaged? Do you have your warranty repair receipt? They may be reluctant to just order parts in without seeing the damage.

  • by tlatham,

    tlatham tlatham Jul 29, 2014 4:57 AM in response to EpicGrey
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 29, 2014 4:57 AM in response to EpicGrey

    Hi:

     

    This is from the states, when I called the store (genius bar) they said the repair is very well documented and had stocked the parts so the repair itself should not take more than three days. The keyword here is parts. If they don't have the parts then its a long wait. The failure seems to be exponential increasing from the 1.1 years and beyond, indicating a serious problem with the hinge, which means they (Apple) should be stocking up on parts because the tidal wave is coming. That's my viewpoint from the states.

     

    If they don't have the part and waiting for a demand incidences it would be best to commit them to a tight schedule: 1) Isolate the problem and order part. If part will take 5 to 10 days to deliver then 2) Then reassemble IMac in functional state to customer for use while waiting for part and keeping you in the que. 3) Apple receives part, calls and schedules the next available time slot to install part, test and return to customer.  No repair shop likes this but if your service center has not been proactive in this manner they deserve the inconvenience.

  • by Marco Falchero,

    Marco Falchero Marco Falchero Jul 29, 2014 10:12 AM in response to tlatham
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 29, 2014 10:12 AM in response to tlatham

    Out of warranty, Apple's repair service should cost around 430 Euro...

  • by EpicGrey,

    EpicGrey EpicGrey Jul 29, 2014 10:29 AM in response to Marco Falchero
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 29, 2014 10:29 AM in response to Marco Falchero

    Thankfully im in warranty. Im also glad i have extended apple care.

  • by piper41,

    piper41 piper41 Jul 31, 2014 2:53 PM in response to Mr Mo-Fo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2014 2:53 PM in response to Mr Mo-Fo

    Same thing happened to my 2014 iMac 27!!! Just sitting there and the hinge failed after a crack noise.... I have an appointment with the geniuses - I am sure they will say that they've never seen anything like this before!!

  • by bbbonthemoon,

    bbbonthemoon bbbonthemoon Aug 1, 2014 7:50 AM in response to Mr Mo-Fo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2014 7:50 AM in response to Mr Mo-Fo

    +1 here, 27' iMac purchased in October 2013

  • by ValveMachine,

    ValveMachine ValveMachine Aug 1, 2014 4:49 PM in response to ValveMachine
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2014 4:49 PM in response to ValveMachine

    Update:

     

    Onsite repair came the other day and now my iMac is tilting again. But, for how long? The failure was indeed the iMac’s stand tilt mechanism in which one of the two springs broke through the plastic washer-like part that holds down one side of the spring. The tilt mechanism has two of these plastic washer-like parts; one per spring.

     

    The contracted tech who came to my home was fantastic! He was pretty knowledgable, friendly and except for having to run out to a local hardware store to buy a #4 Torx bit, everything went smoothly on the first try in a couple of hours.  The #4 Torx bit was necessary to remove the wireless and bluetooth antenna’s from my old iMac shell and put them on the new shell.  “Shell?” you say! Yes, because at least for my repair instance, Apple Support had sent the tech’s company a brand new iMac 27in aluminum back shell that was empty, except for the tilt mechanism that was included and attached to the shell sans actual stand.

     

    So the tech had to remove everything out my iMac, including the 3 antenna blocks screwed to the shell around the edges at three places, and the actual stand. I took a lot of pictures, asked a few questions and was given some nice tips during the repair and in the future when my Apple Care has expired and if the tilt mechanism fails, or for that matter anything else inside my iMac fails or I would like to upgrade, I now have my illustrated bread crumb guide to get me in and out of that dark nether region Apple is trying to deter everyone from going by virtue of their design philosophy. 

     

    Since I was last here on this thread, there are quite a few more users reporting the same failure.  I hope that all users get a satisfactory fix and I ultimately I hope that Apple engineering comes up with a permanent solution to this failure and even perhaps retrofits all those that have reported this failure with that permanent solution.  I wonder what the likelihood of that last suggestion is?  Hmmmm…

  • by Raj098,

    Raj098 Raj098 Aug 2, 2014 5:32 PM in response to Mr Mo-Fo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2014 5:32 PM in response to Mr Mo-Fo

    This morning whin I booted my 18month mac 27" the stand gave up. Luckly I have apple care. I tried to call apple care but could not get them. I will try again during office hours. As I am in Singapore, I don't know how long it will take to repair at this part of the world.

    seeing this thread it's true that it's a design issue. Is the repair include modified parts or apple using the same part number to repair. So after the repair I just need to pray that it should not fail at least 2 years after extended warranty.

    I paid $5k to get the top end model.

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