iMac 24 Aluminum screen burn-in?

just wondering how its getting on now, i thought mine had gone away but it came back of all things, only over darker colours though, on whites its almost unnoticeable but its still enough to bother me. do you think this is a problem apple care would sort out

I too, have a line in which it appears that the log-in screen has burned in. I called my Apple Tech guy today and he said its quite possible. As I always leave my screen with the login window on he said it can burn in. He said that I should turn it off for 24 hours and see if it still appears and if so bring it down.

I think there's a presumption that these LCD don't do this anymore ... I was quite shocked. I bought my iMac in May of this year.

I've also got a problem with screen burn in. Mine is the log in window as per the previous post.

Bought my imac in Nov 2007. Only started having problems with it in the last month or so. First the spinning beach ball and now this.

Before going off on a Christmas holiday for 3 days I installed 10.5.6 and then shutdown the machine. When I cam back the machine was on at the login screen. And guess what... screen burn in of the login screen. I have tried the following fixes:

1. White screen saver for 12 hours = Didn't work or diminish the problem

2. Fan control software as suggested in previous posts = imac not running hot c.109F. Did an air dust and not much came out. With the fan running (like a jet engine!) got the temp down to 99F. Anyway, didn't fix the problem.

3. Tried the jscreen stuff and that hasn't had any effect

4. Reset power management, pram etc just to see if it was a glitch in the software etc. = no fix

5. Reset resolution and problem still there at the same location.

This is pretty annoying considering the cost of these machines. I can see the login screen everywhere! I personally blame the OS because a shutdown should be just that and it never has the whole time I've had this machine. The only way to truly turn the imac off is to pull out the power cord.

Has anyone had any luck in getting rid of this issue? I do not have applecare so I'm guessing Apple aren't going to have much sympathy?

I purchased my 24" Aluminum 2.8Ghz iMac in October of 2007. I have this very same screen burn in issue, and have had it fixed 4 times now.

Just today, the issue started up again. I am officially fed up with making trips to the Apple Store to fix this same issue over and over again. At this point I have no confidence that the issue will ever be fixed, and as soon as my AppleCare expires, I'll be stuck with a lousy product.

I will never purchase another iMac, nor will I allow any of my family to purchase one, and I will do my level best to strongly urge anyone else that I come across not to purchase one.

I traded down to this iMac from my Power Mac G5. That was the best computer I have ever owned, and I sorely regret selling it to get this iMac.

In my recent experience regarding this issue, I think that Apple must consider this problem seriously.

Last June in 2008, I purchased the 24" 3.06GHz iMac and one month later, I found the black lines(persistence, burn-in, or whatever called) at the upper-left position of the display. I guess the black persistence came from firefox toolbar line.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sontop/3220884549/

The service center evaluated as the LCD panel defect and replaced it with new panel on November, 2008. It seemed okay but just one month later, the exact same black persistence at the upper-left position occurred again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sontop/3220891379/

Since I strongly insisted that my iMac should be replaced entirely, now I have new iMac with new 1 year warranty. But I feel still skeptical whenever I look at the upper-left part in the display, which makes me irritated. Also when I read many postings about this iMac display issue in various Apple-related forums, I have strong misgivings that I will meet the same issue again near future.

It seems to happen mostly in 24" display with NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS card. Also at the upper-left position(bad arrangement or heating). Now I do everything you guys suggest-white screensaver, fan control, turning down LCD brightness, etc.

BUT above everything else, the Apple should find out the problematic part-lcd panel or graphics card or whatever-ASAP, then those must be recalled!

I'm with you!
I've had mine fixed before and now the problem seems to have come back. It gets worse over time so I'm waiting until it's unbearable before I send it for repair again.
Getting it recalled would be a major achievement though!
I'm an Apple fan boy but I am not an idiot. This is unacceptable.

Hello everyone,

I just found this thread and it looks like alot has been covered here! I owned a 24" 2.4 for a few months and experienced just about every and all of the problems described within the thread.

In my particular situation I was getting burn in from various web pages that were only up on the screen for a few minutes and you'd still see the burned in text and images when switching to another page. Part of it too was from the top of a palm tree that was in my desktop wallpaper image.

I tried everything including cleaning the inner lcd, outer glass, getting all the software updates and the like, to no avail.

When I took it to the Apple store, turned out they not only had to replace the inner LCD, but the entire logic board and power supply as well! Fortunately I was able to sell it a few weeks later and now have a base model MacBook Pro, love it!

My assistant at work is Apple Certified and has mentioned the numerous display problems these things have had since day one! Just wanted to advise everyone to utilize your existing factory warranties and AppleCare plans to take care of these problems if they arise...Apple has been really good about replacing the displays.

Ok, I talked to the apple support guy and his supervisor.

Apple does not recognize this as an issue, so everyone needs to call and file a complaint about it and apple may address the issue and offer a fix for this. Even if that is down the line or after your warrant is expired. So everyone give apple a quick call and just tell them you want to file it. It only takes like 5 minutes tops to the following number.

Mac technical support: 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273)

I'm dealing with the similar issues on my 24" iMac. My display is polluted with horizontal, yellow bars, each about 73 pixels high and the full 1920 pixels wide. The yellow bars alternate their way down the entire vertical height of the monitor, interspaced by "non-yellow" bars of approximately the same height as the yellow bars. It's definitely time to call AppleCare as this is truly unacceptable. That said, if this is a design defect then there is nothing stopping it from happening again soon after repairs, and with AppleCare eventually running out this product is nothing short of a lemon, hence there there must be some avenue of recourse for customers, anyone?

Same issue, have had it for some time now. I have tried the white screensavers, LCD Scrub, leaving the machine off for several days, but all to no avail. The bloody things always come back.

I have always noticed the blazing heat on my iMac. And what's interesting is that the left part of my iMac is a lot hotter than the right side, and I get burn-ins +a lot+ easier on the left side than the right.

Now I've tried smcFanControl, but I can't see myself living with it, as my iMac now sounds like a jet engine, and it doesn't remove the burn-ins, just weakens them a little bit.

I'm out of ideas...

my imac was purchased mid september 2008 and between denial and not wanting to be another statistic my screen has only gotten worse. I have various windows open and they are moved around constantly. for something to burn so quickly just baffles me. then to have to run a program for hours or shut down for hours just to remedy the problem is ridiculous. I am taking my to the apple store today and hopefully they dont play stupid because Ive got photos of the screen along with links to numerous forums regarding this and I am prepared to have them plug it in and see for themselves. I do not want to go through a lengthy replacement or having to return it once a month because of the same issues. Does anyone know if the newer imac are displaying any screen issues? wish me luck. after this post. I am shutting down and packing up. Peace

well as of now I have an empty box sitting with me. the guy at the apple store pretended to know nothing of these issues. I will now be waiting 5 to 7 days for the lcd and video card to be replaced. I was not told why both of them as I have never had any graphic card issues with this unit. seems to be like they are just making it seem like they are doing something. Im really missing the pc days of just replacing a bad part myself and up and running in not time. will post once its back in my hands and the anger has warn off.

I also talked to Apple Support today and the support guy seemed completely oblivious to this. I find that hard to believe, as this defect apparently affects thousands of iMacs, new and old.

There are even articles about two separate class-action lawsuits being filed against Apple (at AppleInsider.com) because of the defective displays

There is +no way+ that Apple can't be aware of this issue. Still, they do their best to swipe it under the carpet so they can sneak out on the inevitable huge sums they would have to pay out if this kind of lawsuit went through.

Frankly, I'm angered over Apple's display of shady business practises, and how they constantly do their best in an effort to screw over their consumers in order to cover their own *****. But I have no intention of giving up on this, I'm gonna "stand up for my rights."

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Message was edited by: o-Nugget

Guys,

This started happening with my iMac this weekend. I've had it for 10 months maybe, so 'just' under warranty. It's a 3.06GHz Intel.

Last night was really bad (dock was burned in along with windows and icons), so I turned it off. This morning it was fine. Now this evening, I switched back from my wife's account, and I could see outlines of her windows on my desktop.

I slept the machine for an hour, turned it back on, and it is all ok again. Seems to be heat related - but it has only just started to do this - it didn't do it a week ago.

Thinking I better get Applecare, as this doesn't bode well. 😟

well I got the imac back monday afternoon. the screen does seem to be brighter on the left and darker on the right but no lines or ghosting as of yet. I did however notice while unpacking 2 tiny marks on the aluminum body. one about the back middle the other side of the isight and one on the front right near the clock. there was no physical damage to my system when I took it in. this is unacceptable. I will be calling apple today. I am furious. I can not believe that this is apple I am dealing with. will post more if there is anything left to post about.