Q: New iMac 27inch screen flickering/tearing/shutoff

Can't stay sitting there looking at a flickering mac turtle.
I know, it is up to you, but if it would be my Mac i'd let it be replaced straight away, no need to be friendly or gentle with Apple, this is a major problem.

Ok, time to report some tests.

I run iphoto (with NO album, NO pics at all, just empty), photo booth (with camera preview active) and two safari windows.

Right now it's flickering and I got 3 blackouts (each one less than 1 second).
Temps according to iStats (all Celsius degrees):
Ambient: 17

CPU: 43
GPU Diode: 59
GPU Heatsink: 58
mem ctrl: 45
opt drive: 40
power supply 2: 57
HD: 38

fans:
cpu 939 rpm
HD 1098 rpm
opt drive: 999rpm

Voltages
CPU A 0.00V (?)

Current
CPU A 9.33 A


W8946 / HD 4850 / Rom revision 113-B9110C-394 / Driver 01.00.367

BTW I'm going to unistall iStats for a while too (network with SL doesn't work, CPU Voltage too...

UPDATE
I can confirm that, during flickering, if you put imac into stop status and resume the problem disappears!
Italian users could find useful my post here : http://blog.armandoleotta.com/2009/12/le-vaghe-scuse-di-casa-apple/

Message was edited by: ArMyZ

Sonics99 wrote:
Well sorry to report to everyone that the symptoms returned last night. First a flicker and then the vertical screen issue.

That's no good news at all.

Today I received my replacement iMac i5, build week 50. So far it looks ok. It still has a slight yellow tinge, but I would say it's less than my first one had.

Regarding the flickering I will have to wait some days (weeks) until I really can be sure it's solved (keep you updated). But after your experience, Sonics, I am still quite a bit sceptical. It's a shame: sitting in front of this really beautiful machine and not being able to be happy about it, but instead waiting all the time that the flickering reappears. :-/

I've been reading this thread for weeks as i've been awaiting my new baby with baited breath. UPS showed up on my doorstep this morning and handed me a large plain brown cardboard box and said "Please sign here..." So I did.

Now, being in Edmonton Alberta, Canada (2nd coldest location on earth 3 nights ago at -46.1 degrees below zero celsius), I allowed the plain brown box to sit for an hour while it attempted to hit ambient temperature (18.5 degrees. Natural Gas is expensive!!!) With 5 minutes having past and my inability to wait a full hour for the **** box to warm up kicking into high gear, I started into it. I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, so I had my Nikon D300 waiting in the wings to take a multitude of pictures of the official box opening.

After close inspection of the plain brown box, I see nothing wrong with it besides 2 squished areas of the crease on one corner (I took MANY pictures of said squished areas as i've read about the broken glass and didn't want to be called a liar if it was indeed broken). Off goes the box and i'm left staring at this gorgeous white 27" iMac box. This box is pristine. No creases, rips or the like. So the next logical step was to open the white box and behold the magnificence inside.

Out comes the little white box housing the mouse, disks and keyboard (which oddly enough is bent at a 45 degree angle from the left command key to the tab key, but more on that later) and I proceed to fire off about 10 shots of the inside packing of the box. Everything so far is excellent... Should I dare think it? Is my brand new week 50 iMac going to be ok? Am I one of the lucky ones?

As I pull the styrofoam packaging off from the top of the iMac and prepare to lift the scrumptious beast out of the box I think to myself "This packaging is top notch, how can the glass on some of these screens be broken?" With only a passing thought it it, I begin to lift it out and onto the desk. Being to scared to look, I run my fingers down the left and right sides to the bottom over the protective foam blanket protecting my new $2500 tool and breath out a sigh of relief. No cracks. One issue down, several more to go.
Having already realized there are no cracks, I rush to remove the foam blanket from the screen, next removing the clear film covering the screen... Wow, I think to myself, look at all the real estate.

I opened the box with the keyboard and mouse carefully lifted them out and placed them in front of the computer leaving the plastic wrap around the keyboard. Next I plugged in the white power cable and inserted it firmly into the back of the iMac. Now, given the frigid feel of the aluminum and the fact that there is now frost bite on the tips of my fingers (kidding about that part) I figure I should let the darn thing come up to temperature before subjecting it to condensation issues by powering it up.

An Omelette later, I turn the corner to my computer room, stop short in the doorway and recite a little prayer, "Please Mr. Jobs, allow this one to not have the flicker issues so many of your devoted fans are experiencing..." Sitting down it the chair in front of this monstrosity I reach around to the back bottom left and feel for the familiar round, recessed power button and give it a press... BONG!!!!!!! It springs to life...
I take note of the hard drive noise to see if it's out of the ordinary. It's good, CHECK!!
I take note of the display to look for yellowing around the bottom. None, YES!!!
I look for flickering as it boots up. Nothing so far.

I think to myself, "I'm one of the lucky ones"... and begin a little web surfing. CNN, Apple, Sportsnet.ca..

15 minutes to the second after pressing that familiar round, recessed power button, I get my first flicker. It was so slight that I barely noticed it and though to my self "maybe it wasn't what I thought it was". The next instant, the the beautiful screen goes black, pitch black for 2 seconds. My heart sinks and I scream at the top of my lungs "IT'S A WEEK 50!!! IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FIXED NOW!!!!

So, I have an iMac which flickers, albeit rarely at this point (4 flickers and 2 black screens in just over an hour). My iSight camera has 4 dead/stuck pixels and my keyboard oddly enough is bent which causes it to have a 1/16th of an inch deflection, Just enough to make it noisy as I type.

Thankfully we have an Apple Store in West Edmonton Mall so I would imagine that before my 14 days are up and if apple doesn't come out with a fix by then, I will be bringing it back for a refund. I'll wait until there are no more issues coming forward before ordering another one.

Specs are as follows...

i7 processor
8 Gigs of ram - 4 x 2 Gig sticks
ATI 4850 Vid card
1TB 7200 RPM HDD

Update to my conversation with Apple: they suggested I create another user account and test the screen for a while there. I am now on hour 3 of a new "test" account and so far no flickering. I am not optimistic that this will help, in reading all the posts here, it seems like nothing has helped. But has anyone else had this suggestion made to them by Apple IT?
~N

I'm really sorry to read that so many people experience problems with their new iMacs. When mine was on order, I read this thread and feared the many problems that plagues these machines.
Fortunately, now three weeks in fulltime service, I can safely say that my iMac i7 runs very smooth. It's very silent, has no dead pixels, no cracks in the screen and shows no flickering. It's been hardware-calibrated and the color is consistent across the panel.

The only thing I need to get used to is the high pixel pitch (most web pages look very small, I end up zooming in very often).

It sure would be nice if we knew how many units had shipped, altogether. We have no sense of how typical these faults are. Maybe a AAPL analyst monitoring this thread knows how many units they expected to ship in November and December. That would be something to go on...

I have a i7 27" imac it started flickering when I started using spaces it stops when I turn it off. take it for what its worth

Hello, I also had the problem where the screen blinked and went black, then the menu appeared about 3 inches below the top of the screen. I tried to take a screenshot, but the screenshot came out okay.

I thought it might be related to fluctuations in the power line, so I got a UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation). Since then, I have not had the problem... and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I had received my iMac about mid-November (the first batch of Core i7 iMacs) and the blinking incident happened on the morning after I received it. It has been one month so far, so I hope that the problem does not resurface.

I hope this suggestion helps...

Has anybody been able to agree a replacement but delay the replacement for a couple of weeks?

I'd like to get Apple to agree to replace my faulty iMac but not send the new one for a few weeks to have a much better chance of receiving a fixed unit, assuming they solve the problem very soon.

http://goletaman.blogspot.com/2009/12/faulty-new-imac-27-display.html

my iMac display or graphic card problem...

Pors: "It's a shame: sitting in front of this really beautiful machine and not being able to be happy about it, but instead waiting..."

We know what you mean but I'm pushing on customizing the new iMac and enjoying the new screen that's not flickered once. Remember, we're all going to die, but few of us let that deter us from enjoying our brief lives while we can. "Don't worry, be happy." Apple still has a big safety net to catch your computer if it fails so enjoy it now.

Chris Miles wrote:
Has anybody been able to agree a replacement but delay the replacement for a couple of weeks?

I'd like to get Apple to agree to replace my faulty iMac but not send the new one for a few weeks to have a much better chance of receiving a fixed unit, assuming they solve the problem very soon.

Apple Store managers have the discretion to take the machine back (w/o restocking fee) and issue a gift card. That's what I did for my flickering i7. I'm waiting until things seem better before reordering.

Just to let you know Apple has not fixed the problem ENTIRELY. My friend's iMac 27" had the first flicker problem but his replacement has not had any yet

I had one of the first batch of iMac 27" i5s and it would flicker. It had the cracked screen as well. I went back to the store and I returned it with no restocking fee due to the cracked screen. Today, I picked up another at the store (bad idea). After returning from sleep, I saw the first flicker.

I will return the iMac again. I think it may be a GPU problem as it also blanks out on my secondary display but the lines only appear on the iMac's main display. The only reason I bought it so soon was because I need a new computer for college that can actually run CS4 and is future-proof (more than a 21.5" iMac). Oh well, I have an i7-920 with a HD 5770 and P6T Deluxe on order from NewEgg. I have lost faith in Rev. A products (had so many problems with my Core Duo MacBook).

changt34x wrote:
Just to let you know Apple has not fixed the problem ENTIRELY. My friend's iMac 27" had the first flicker problem but his replacement has not had any yet

I had one of the first batch of iMac 27" i5s and it would flicker. It had the cracked screen as well. I went back to the store and I returned it with no restocking fee due to the cracked screen. Today, I picked up another at the store (bad idea). After returning from sleep, I saw the first flicker.

I will return the iMac again. I think it may be a GPU problem as it also blanks out on my secondary display but the lines only appear on the iMac's main display. The only reason I bought it so soon was because I need a new computer for college that can actually run CS4 and is future-proof (more than a 21.5" iMac). Oh well, I have an i7-920 with a HD 5770 and P6T Deluxe on order from NewEgg. I have lost faith in Rev. A products (had so many problems with my Core Duo MacBook).

What's the serial number of your second iMac? The third and fourth digits tell you the week that it was built. Since Apple has just recently started to delay shipment of the 27" iMacs so they can fix this problem, I'm sure that your replacement isn't one of the "fixed" ones.