Purple Line on my iMac Screen

Many people are having this problem and the majority are not in the right serial number catergory for an extension repain program.I am one of the many,and am really frustrated with apple because they are not owning up to faulty parts,my story is the same as everyone's,comp started having lines,crashing,programs failing,slower.....and frankly i would of thought apple could do something about this but apparently not.I heard it was a problem with a shanghai batch that went out and apple aren't claiming responsibility.In my eyes its bad publicity for them if many people have had this problem and apple aren't caring,for me its made me think about getting a pc because i dont want this to happen again! Apple sort something out there are a lot of people getting aggrivated (including myself) do something!

That's strange...

Resetting PRAM might help: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

If that doesn't help, I'd recommend contacting AppleCare.


Cheers,
Ilya

iMac 20 inch  2.0 GHz Core Duo  250 GB HD  512 MB RAM  Mac OS X (10.4.10)  iPod video 30GB Black  Silver iPod Mini 2G 2GB CompactFlash

Same thing just started on my 17" LCD yesterday.

A worse problem for me on my 17' screen..I have 5 (yes, FIVE!) coloured vertical thin lines on my iMac intel..

Apple should consider seriously this problem.. I bought it only one year and a half ago.

It might be a bad RAM rather than a problem with the LCD itself.

igent: It is absolutely an LCD problem and only an LCD problem. They wasted their time trying a new logic board first in my warranty repair. RAM problem? Highly unlikely and easily checked with Tech Tools. There are way too many observations reported about these lines in the discussion pages here for Apple not to acknowlege a problem exists and to extend everybody's warranty. Mine was just fixed in record time thanks to Apple headquarters, not the local Apple Store that did the fix. Apple California knows **** well what's going on here. You people barely out of your warranty periods need to get mad and speak up. I hold you all just as responsible for this as Apple - sitting on these kinds of issues the way they do, taking advantage of all of us. If it was up to the local boys and girls at the Apple Store, I'd have waited over a month to get a new LCD off of one of their discontinued 17" iMac models. My experience should be an eye opener to all of you. Maybe their new screens will show better wear over the years to come, but you're an idiot like me to buy an Apple LCD unless you own Apple stock or are too rich to care. Don't get me wrong. I'm very grateful to Apple for honoring their warranty like nobody else would. It's talking to the local Apple "geniuses" and reading the nonsense you guys are writing about this issue, that reeks to me.

Actually, TechTool (and similar products) is not a good way to test RAM properly. If an error is reported it likely does have an error yes, but if no error is reported it doesn't necessarily mean anything. RAM has been the cause of stranger issues and I have seen RAM causing this very issue many times. Other strong candidates are the main logic board, video card, LVDS cable, a loose LVDS cable or the LCD panel itself.

Basic steps like resetting PRAM can help all manner of issues and is nearly always a good place to start. While it may not fix the issue, it may well fix the issue which leads to the issue you are actually noticing. I'm not saying it isn't an LCD panel issue, it may well be, but it might not be; leave that to a qualified technician to determine scientifically.

I am sorry you and many others have had bad experiences in this area, but it's never as wide-spread as it appears to be. No one is taking advantage by not providing a free fix for a machine that is out of warranty, or for not repairing an issue not covered by warranty. Similarly, if the issue is not re-create-able in the repair centre you can't expect a technician to fix it.

Finally I would like to say that calling people an idiot for purchasing an "Apple LCD" is just ludicrous. Not only is it completely irrational, but Apple don't even manufacture the LCD panels they use.

Leonardo, did you find a solution? I have the same problem.

Add me to the list with this problem. Noticed it yesterday, I have a single, purple line about 1/5th of the way from the right side of the screen.

I also have a thin red line on a 6 month old 20" Intel iMac this is the second thing to go wrong. The Airport Card was DOA....

Gutted that I will have to take the mac 60 miles away as applecare on fix within 30 miles.

Great.

I have the same issue - 14 month old iMac 17 Core Duo with a single vertical row of pixels turned purple. This started about a week ago and then about two days ago it got a second vertical line. This time it is yellow and about the middle of the display.

Oddly enough, this is my second experience with a similar issue. My wife's G5 iMac had the same issue in July after about 2.5 years of service. Took it to the Genius Bar and they replaced the LCD for ~$640. OUCH! I'm hoping with the recent huge drops in LCD prices, that these parts will drop in price soon. But it's very disappointing to get only a year or two out of such an integral component to an all-in-one like the LCD. Seems there may be some quality control issues.

Has anyone else found a cheaper solution?

I now have approx 20 lines on screen - of all colors.

The first one appeared about 3 months ago. I bought my present iMac in Feb 2006. Unfortunately I didn't buy an extended warranty as I'd had such a good run with Mac previously - till now!

I spoke with a customer service rep - presumably in the US - who checked the serial number etc. He confirmed it was Shanghai-made, but couldn't offer any easy solution. He said that only 'small numbers' of units were affected by this problem and that it didn't constitute a need for recall.

Getting it repaired will mean a new LCD screen at approx 60% the price of a brand new 20" iMac!!!

What to do!!?

Thousands of Powerbook 17' owners have the same problem and Apple has not give any solution to them 😟

See it: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=560330&start=0&tstart=0

My mac is about 14 months old and has just developed a pink vertical line. The serial number indicates it was built at the Shanghai plant, which I know has had quality issues in the past. No joy from Apple Support who say that 'there isn't an issue'. How many more of you are there out there?

Regards
Pero