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

I have the iMac27inch display. 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo. With the Radeon 4670. I've had mine for over a week now and I'm very lucky to report that I've experienced none of these problems. Certainly keeping my fingers crossed. I did not use migration. The only thing I transferred over was my itunes library. I fresh installed everything.

The only thing I've have noticed is after coming out of sleep mode, that there is very, very slight color correction which occurs within about five seconds. That is the only thing I've noticed.

I have had 3+ months and a ton of problems with my iMac... I am at the end of the road with apple... any advice

see details on this post... http://sumopro.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post.html

Too long to post here.

sumo

I have contacted the administrator of the mentioned "toms hardware" thread about the iMac i7 ATi 4850 flickering issues to see if the problems are related. If so, hopefully when I receive my week 50 iMac i7 4850 tomorrow; and IF there are any issues, I can "under-clock" my graphics card to resolve the flickering/tinge issues. I'd like to see if this fix helps anyone beforehand.

CliffBell87 wrote:
I have contacted the administrator of the mentioned "toms hardware" thread about the iMac i7 ATi 4850 flickering issues to see if the problems are related. If so, hopefully when I receive my week 50 iMac i7 4850 tomorrow; and IF there are any issues, I can "under-clock" my graphics card to resolve the flickering/tinge issues. I'd like to see if this fix helps anyone beforehand.

Hello Cliff,

You are either very bold, very techy, or both!

I wouldn't know how to begin to underclock a graphics card; and even if I did, I'd be scared to death to try to do it on my new $3,000 iMac. I'd be afraid that I really might screw up something.

My less-than-impressive expertise is limited to replacing hard drives, augmenting RAM, removing and cleaning a fan in one of my G4 mini-towers, and similar simple procedures.

I think I'll leave the graphics problems to Apple to figure out.

But, if you do learn something interesting from that fellow Jeff, please do share it with us here. I would be most interested in hearing it.

Thanks!

I too have been following this post especially after my first encounter with the flickering issue. I am on my 4th iMac...this time I went for the i7 after 2 C2Ds and one i5. HOWEVER - there may be evidence that the issue has been resolved and i'm going to take a shot in the dark on this one...

Various news organizations have reported the flickering issue and Apple is now referring to it as a known issue. There have been statements made that the latest delay in shipments is to correct the issue and Apple itself has stated that it is simply a matter of supply and demand.

BOTH may be true! Regardless of your personal feelings on the issue or hypothesis for that matter, I dont know of many companies as dependent on reputation as Apple is to KNOWINGLY ship defective product. With that being said, this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2261380 clearly shows that the iMacs are shipping out of Shanghai even quicker than most customers expected. Seems as though they are cranking them out.

So....did Apple a) replace the faulty video cards .... b) perform some sort of adjustment or double check a connector etc ... c) correct the issue via firmware update that will soon be released to affected owners in possession of a faulty iMac right now .... or d) ignore everything and just crank em out defective?

I'd go with a,b, or c.... maybe it's over!

As far as my new i7....Its been running flawlessly since i received it on the 14th (ordered it on the 1st)

I wish us all Good Luck with our respective systems....I know it may take time for the flickering to rear its ugly head but I find it very hard to believe they would knowingly ship defective product....maybe some isolated incidents....but once it hit cnn and they are cranking em out still....maybe it is indeed behind us now!

That is great news. Can I ask what model week your machine was? I'm expecting mine tomorrow.

I actually have no clue. But hopefully a tech-savvy user will read my post and teach me how :-P I will keep everyone posted on any updates from Tom's Hardware. Wish me luck. My iMac is out for delivery!

Hello Dicebier,

To my knowledge, nobody in this thread -- or in any of the other related threads -- has outright accused Apple of knowingly shipping out defective units. What some of us have suggested is that in their rush to make as many Christmas sales as possible, they may have become lax in their Quality Control, and thus overlooked the issues that are now coming to light.

If Apple is to be blamed for anything, it is for putting profit above quality. AMD, on the other hand -- at least according to those other sources -- appears to have been fully aware of the problems with the 4800 series. Whether or not AMD informed Apple of the problems with the 4800 series is anyone's guess. But then again, if regular computer users are aware of the issues with the 4800 series graphics cards, how could Apple also not know?

I am not aware of any official public statements from Apple where they refer to the flickering issue -- or any of the other issues for that matter -- as a "known issue". We have heard or read some 3rd party statements from iMac users, resellers, a few Apple Store employees, and some unnamed Apple techs, but again, to my knowledge, the only semi-official statement from Apple thus far is a one-sentence apology for the shipment delays, which has been posted on a few news sites.

Every news report and blog entry I have read states that Apple has refused to respond, and has refused to provide a reason for the delays, and in none of those reports does Apple public acknowledge that anything is wrong with their machines. Furthermore, neither is there an official, public statement from Apple where they state that the delays are due to the fact that they have isolated the problems to the graphics card, and are currently resolving it. Again, this is all hearsay, and 3rd party accounts and speculations.

I have considered that perhaps these 3rd party accounts are Apple's way of indirectly "leaking" the truth. Who knows. Maybe.

I am not getting on your case. I just think that we need to be very clear here regarding what Apple has really said, and hasn't said.

Thanks!

I have a question that I have been meaning to ask everyone here.

Many of you have reported that due to the many problems which are afflicting the current line of iMacs, you have had to return your original order, and as many as one to three replacements.

When you say "ship back", I am assuming that you mean all the way back to Shanghai, China.

So my question is this: Who is footing the bill for all of these shipments? You, or Apple?

These beasts are very heavy, and I imagine that it must cost a pretty penny -- or pound, or whatever -- to be sending these units back.

Considering that Apple is at least partially at fault here -- whether they will admit it or not -- I hope that they are doing the right thing, and paying the bill for all of these returned machines.

I just don't see why any end user should have to pay for the return shipping fees, being as they were expecting to receive their iMac in good working order, but didn't.

The posts here and on macrumors have swayed me to wait on purchasing the 27" i5 just yet.

Interesting (although perhaps unrelated) my 20" iMac Core 2 Duo just started occasionally displaying a periodic, single flicker off then on (just as many other have described) almost immediately after upgrading from 10.5 to 10.6. Never occurred prior to the upgrade.

It would be nice if Apple would make some sort of statement regarding this issue. Good luck to those who took the plunge and are now working through this issue.

"and Apple is now referring to it as a known issue".
Where? Link?

Magill5050 wrote:
I have the iMac27inch display. 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo. With the Radeon 4670. I've had mine for over a week now and I'm very lucky to report that I've experienced none of these problems. Certainly keeping my fingers crossed. I did not use migration. The only thing I transferred over was my itunes library. I fresh installed everything.

The only thing I've have noticed is after coming out of sleep mode, that there is very, very slight color correction which occurs within about five seconds. That is the only thing I've noticed.

Try keeping running iphoto, photo booth (camera on) and safari for a while

I apologize....let me clarify... an Applecare representative that I was in contact with 2 days ago regarding something unrelated had told me the flickering issue was a known issue when i brought it up. Furthermore the very nice rep told me that they had all the "captures" ... apparently a "capture" is either video evidence or enough physical units in their possession....they needed, that their engineers were aware of the issue, and that anyone with a problem should contact them and they will make things right.... This was two days ago.

So when I said Apple was "referring" to the issue as a known issue , I should have clarified that the applecare representative stated that to me personally. my second statement about apple "stating" it was a matter of supply and demand is documented throughout the web via their apology for the delays.

Finally, I dont really see how I stated that people were accusing Apple of anything so again I apologize if that was not how it came across.

FACT is that no one knows what the issue is or was (hopefully) , many have theorized video cards, power supply, heat, the panel itself, the logic board, cabling etc...

So while I admire the fact that people like us are really trying just to figure this out (I myself would never attempt to repair it) I have confidence that Apple is well aware of the issue and will make things right in the end (if they haven't already). I too have had my share of problems but i still have faith.

Again, sorry if I didn't clarify my statements to reflect the thoughts I was trying to express.

Thanks!

I never had to pay anything for return shipping and all shipping of new units was free of charge as well.

Magill5050, it's normal, i've got it too. It's just the imac that searches the right profile again. it's like..2 seconds or less.