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

Warren Beasley..........

Apple has been paying the shipping.

Generally, the way they work, they email the prepaid shipping labels to you. All you have to do is try and get the beast back in the box the way it came out. If you didn't pay close attention while you were unpacking, it can be a chore.
Slap on the labels, tote it down to Fedex and you're done.

I guess I will find out soon enough if the problem is resolved.

My replacement i7 was scheduled to ship on Dec 22, but I just checked, and it has already shipped, with an estimated delivery of Dec 21. The replacement order was issued on Dec 10th, so even though the website says two weeks, they are still easily within the original time frame for filling orders.

My current machine is a week 46 i7 which has the flickering issues along with a doa optical drive. Apple has allowed me to keep the current machine until the new one arrives.

They still have the best customer support, and warranties in the business, even though they are a bit reluctant to answer questions about the flickering issue.

I will post again as soon as the new machine arrives, and let the rest of you know if the problem returns.

Adding a me too:

Have had my 27" i7 for 2 weeks now with no issues. Got home yesterday to find it flickering away. Not happy. Restarted and it was fine and haven't had any issues since.

Phoned Apple....+Hi, my iMac's screen has just started flickering.....OK, let me go ahead and get that replaced for you+.

http://www.photoswarm.com

Just got off the phone with Apple support again as I need them to delay delivery until after Christmas. The guy said they are now leaning towards it being a driver / software issue but until a memo is sent out by their apple advisors instructing them otherwise they are continuing to replace them.

http://www.photoswarm.com

@Warren: my flickering iMac was fetched by TNT on behalf of Apple and shipped to the UK, not China. Of course I didn't have to pay for it.

pazuita wrote:
My replacement i7 was scheduled to ship on Dec 22, but I just checked, and it has already shipped, with an estimated delivery of Dec 21. The replacement order was issued on Dec 10th, so even though the website says two weeks, they are still easily within the original time frame for filling orders.

This only seems to apply for replacement iMacs as these are built and shipped with highest priority. Thus people waiting for their first shipment will have to wait "a bit" longer.

Hello

I bought the 27" iMac the day it was released in October. Apart from an annoying screen buzz that occurs at low brightness and high temperature, it has worked flawlessly for nearly 2 months now.

This morning I awoke to the much dreaded screen flickering and blackouts, out of the blue. I got on the phone with Apple Support here in Australia and they were very evasive and quite unhelpful. Hoping for a software or firmware update or at least recognition of these issues by Apple sometime soon.

I've worked in the software industry for a good few years, and I have seen video drivers be responsible for screen flickers, but as many people (myself included) have only seen the flicker when the machine has been on for some time and is warm/hot, this really points to a hardware issue. Software doesn't tend to care what the temperature is!

It is extremely unlikely that software is responsible for the yellow tinge people are seeing: it sounds like a hardware production problem. (My machine had both the yellow tinge and the flicker.)

And, of course, dead pixels and faults with the glass aren't going to go away with a software update.

Kurukuru wrote:
I've worked in the software industry for a good few years, and I have seen video drivers be responsible for screen flickers, but as many people (myself included) have only seen the flicker when the machine has been on for some time and is warm/hot, this really points to a hardware issue.

There have also been quite some people that have reported of flickering shortly after they have started their iMac after being off for a night or so (also in this thread). So most probably the problem is not temperature related.

Mine began this morning just minutes after I booted from shutdown. And it was a pretty cold morning too!

Agreed, some people are seeing the flicker early after boot-up, but from reading this thread I get the impression that the majority of cases occur when the machine is warm. Some people have said they see it after/during video playback, for example, which gives the CPU/GPU plenty of work to do, thus increases heat levels rapidly.

Just a general observation...

I've been tracking my computer through the UPS tracking service and it's no wonder that some are experiencing cracked/broken screens. My computer was shipper from Shanghai and it due to be delivered today. Here is it's journey:

KINGSTON, ON, CA 16/12/2009 5:36 OUT FOR DELIVERY
CONCORD, ON, CA 16/12/2009 4:00 DEPARTURE SCAN
MOUNT HOPE, ON, CA 16/12/2009 0:30 DEPARTURE SCAN
MOUNT HOPE, ON, CA 15/12/2009 23:00 IMPORT SCAN
BUFFALO, NY, US 15/12/2009 4:20 DEPARTURE SCAN
LOUISVILLE, KY, US 14/12/2009 15:26 DEPARTURE SCAN
ANCHORAGE, AK, US 10/12/2009 18:35 DEPARTURE SCAN
NARITA, JP 10/12/2009 21:59 DEPARTURE SCAN
SHANGHAI, CN 10/12/2009 17:22 DEPARTURE SCAN
SHANGHAI, CN 09/12/2009 11:49 ORIGIN SCAN

Quite the journey. I have to admit the the anxiety over the problems listed here is mounting.

Video of the issue on my machine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGikHDvLsro&feature=player_embedded

http://www.photoswarm.com

Hi,

I've also been told to bring my one back to the Apple store for a replacement by Tec support this morning. However they say they are unaware of any problems (ha ha)phoned my local store to arrange and they admitted to the problem. Will see tonight when i swap it over what happens.

Now if only I can remember how it went in the box.

Just another update....

It has been a week after re-installing OSX (as directed by customer care) and now the issue is back. Exactly the same symptoms as before.

I think they are going to send me a replacement. Greeeeat.

My first iMac 27" i5 quad core has been replaced by Apple due to a flickering screen. I received a replacement 14th Dec. Today is 16th and guess what, my replacement machine has developed the same flickering problem! The problem seems worse when the computer is running hot. I'll be calling Apple again when I've calmed down.

Is anyone here running QuarkXPress on an affected 27" iMac?

I'm wondering if it's a graphic driver issue as I've noticed some weird windowing problems in Quark XPress 8.12 - in particular when you do a Save As or export a document as PDF, the dialog box is kind of mangled. If I 'refresh' the dialog by clicking/re-clicking the blue drop-down arrow the window is displayed properly. This does not happen on my 24" at home running the same 10.6.2

I've also periodically noticed other apps' windows not drawing properly. Dragging another window over the top of the affected ones sorts out this infrequent problem.

I've only had one incidence of flickering in the three days I've owned the 27-incher. I started up this morning - the office was very cold this morning (about 7º C - brrrr!) and the flickering started just as I logged in to my account. A restart, and it's been fine all day (coming up to 7.5 hours with no further episodes though the window issues above have happened a few times).

Anyway, I've spoken to the manager at the Apple Store I bought it from and so far he has been very helpful and says he's happy for me to do whatever I want with regards to exchange/refund whatever.
He suggested it may be worth waiting to see if there's a firmware upgrade while I'm still in the no quibble return window and then returning it at the end of that period if there's no news at that point. Luckily, it turns out that the guy in the Apple Store that sold me the iMac was the Store Manager and remembered me, so I didn't have to go through the whole process of bringing it back in just yet.

Fingers crossed for a firmware update.

However. I'm affected by the 'Yellow' screen which I don't expect will be fixed by a firmware update. It's not serious enough to return, but if the flickering issue forces my hand, then there's the risk that the replacement machine will be worse than the current one.

Also, I'm not sure that the screen is too yellow at the bottom, but more too blue everywhere else! I think it's just that one perceives a blue-ish white as 'brighter' and 'purer' just like the washing powder ads that someone else has already alluded to.

Message was edited by: Easybourne