21.5'' iMac - Screen Noise

Ok, I woke up this morning and decided to call applecare again to get some more info about the claim of the store that the board wasn't in stock. After 20 minutes on hold, finally an employee of Customer Relations came to the phone. He was very helpful. He had a look at the repair status and decided to cancel the repair. It was not acceptable to him that a complete new machine had to have the main board (hart of the machine) repaired! He explained the procedure to swap the Imac for a new one and promised to guide me throughout the whole procedure.

I have to return the mouse and the keyboard to the store and then i just have to wait for the new mac!!!

Lets hope the new one is ok!


WOW!!!!!!! 🙂

Hi, I'm in New Zealand and I bought my iMac 27" yesterday from a store. However, I have the exactly the same problem. There is a noise if the brightness level is in the middle and noise goes away when the brightness level is dark or very bright.
I will call apple today and see what they will say about it.

I've been following this topic since the October 2009 iMac release, and have not purchased a new iMac because of the screen noise issue. I finally gave in (my G5 was over 5 years old!) and bought a built to order 21.5 iMac with the 3.6 GHz intel core i5 processer. It arrived 3 days ago. I'm happy to report that the screen is absolutely silent at all brightness settings. No yellow tint that I can appreciate either.

My wife has very sensitive hearing, and she was able to hear the "dog whistle" on the prior iMacs at the Apple store with the brightness turned down a few notches from the max, as others have reported (too annoying to allow her to work on the computer). She is a primary user of the iMac, hence my reluctance to buy the prior version.

Maybe it's the i5? Maybe it's the fact that the computer appears to originate in California - the first entry in the FedEx tracking system was Sacromento Calif and the box says Assembled in the US?

In any case, Apple is able to build a 21.5" iMac with perfect screen behavior. Hope those of you with the noise problem can get satisfaction from the Apple service folks! Good luck!

I have looked at my screen again doing the screen test at full brightness it looks almost perfect, its when you reduce brightness it changes slightly although my wife cannot see what I do. Maybe I'm to picky but it definitely has no screen noise, she also listened, it came with 10.6.3 on it. Maybe its something to do with the i5 dual core or we just got lucky. The hard drive seems to be getting quieter, or I'm getting used to it, not sure which. But I am very happy with the unit.

My iMac came with 10.6.4 installed.
Regarding the hard drive, (1TB), it is MUCH quieter than my prior iMac, a 5 year old G5 with a "tiny" by today's standards 160GB HD. Basically, the computer is silent- HD, screen, everything. My G5's multiple internal cooling fans got going as soon as I viewed any video, or even when Time Machine was backing up. Now the only sound I hear when Time Machine backs up is the slight "clicking" of my Iomega external backup drive!

BTW, the screen is SO bright that my wife and I can only tolerate it at 50%. Another reason why I am happy that there is NO screen noise when the brightness is turned down from the max.

Hi,

I hade the same problem with my purchase of the entry iMac 21.5 model. (2010-08-09 W8026xxxxxx - Made in Shanghai week 26)

After 2 replacements from AppleCare, they didn't want to make any further replacement - but offered to give me a full refund. (which I took - since I can't bear to live with this sound).

During all of this, I took video & sound recordings of all the iMac they sent me ... and bored as I was waiting for them i went to all of my local retailers and wrote a list of Serial No. of which in-store iMac's also had this problem.

From 9 pcs of iMacs (a mix of 21.5" and 27"), 7 pcs had this issue and 2 pcs I couldn't make a call on if it had this issue or it was to noisy ambiance (to hear clearly) - but lets say 2 pcs passed ...

(PS. I have all of the above Serial No. .... but I'm in a hurry right now ...)

Even so, 2 out of 9 isn't that much better of a result then 9 out of 9. Pretty crapy odds against ...

Also, during a call with AppleCare I found out that the 1st two iMacs where manufactured the same week (very close to each other) - week 26 (beginning of july) (double check with my retail store, and they confirmed that the weeks corresponded).

2nd - WQ026xxxxx - Made in China (not Shanghai) week 26)

3rd - W8027xxxxxx - Made in Shanghai week 27).

After all what I've gone through (worst Mac-buy experience ever! ... and I've bought a handfull of stuff from them the past years!) ... don't buy an iMac of Middle 2010! as all odds are against you!

Then again, reading the last two posts they may have finally solved this issue (almost 1 year later). But I'll like to hear from more people that have recently bought a iMac.

Maybe you can share with us the 1st 5 digits of your Serial No? (so we can decipher when these Good new iMac where starting to get made)

Mines a C and a 6 but when you put it into the online Checker it says the 295th model or near abouts of week 27 built in Cork.

Got my replacement today...........hmmm, same W8025 number....., $%$#%#$^@@#!!!! This mac has exactly the same problems as my first one. Same high pitch noise, same yellowing screen on the bottom.

I mailed my CR contact and asked for a solution. Next stop for me: full refund!

I'll keep you posted!

Cheers
Laurens

Hey Laurens,

I have the same thing in Eindhoven. Bought a 27' iMac less than a week ago with W8025 number, but I have only noticed a "reduced brightness noise" issue. The guys from the store told me to bring it back and change it immediately.

But now, having read all this, I think that having only this buzzing noise is not so bad after all. 🙂

Hello Demainframe,

funny isn't it. The store in Amersfoort went for the repair and the same store in eindhoven did a direct replacement! Very consistent policy....not! I think it is very dubious that even an official from apple said that the repair the store did was unacceptable for a new machine!

Still no reply from my contact at CR but they said that they would reply within one working day but the day hasn't passed yet 😉

I'm still going for a full refund. I'm fedupp with imacs.

Cheers
Laurens

ok, i went to the store, gave them the case number I got from applecare and got a replacement. Unfortunately, it still has the same issue(high pitched noise, and the noise goes away when I turn the brightness level to max or min). The serial numbers of both iMacs start with "W8026", I think they all have the same issue. Except the noise, I really like my iMac. I don't know what to do now. The noise is not very loud, in fact my wife said she woulnd't have noticed if i didn't tell her. However, it's just sooooo annoying. Should I go back and ask for a full refund? To be honest, I'm not sure if they will refund my money.

Message was edited by: StarCub

Hello StarCub,

at some point they have to because the legal terms do not exclude the option: http://images.apple.com/legal/warranty/docs/cpuwarranty.pdf

I bought my imac at the 7th of august and still after six weeks, I had nothing but trouble. First waiting weeks for the repair and than getting a replacement with the same problems. Still waiting for my contactperson at CR to call me back. I'll only settle with a full refund.

Keep you posted!
Laurens

I think it is also possible to ask for an iMac with a "new" serial number, since until now I have seen most of the problems with W8025 and W8026. At least that's what I'm planning to do. I'll inform you if I get any luck.

Good luck, I think my machine is a fluke or its so high pitched I cannot hear it, and nor can my wife, the noise is a bit like a dimmer switch (stick your ear to one, they whine) and its been happening since late 2009, most people settle for it, or try to get it fixed, which may be a better option, if not try a new manufacturer with Windows 7 AIO's or get a different Mac.

So they've changed my iMac for another one. I just came home and started to hear the same sound. Still don't know, what I am going to do, I don't want to change it once again in one day.