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

Just updated now, since then i didnt find any flickering/tearing of screen, it needs more time cant say anything at the moment, well am really hoping that the issue is resolved, eagerly waiting for people to post their results!!

I have only experienced a mild flicker or two, but I can confirm that the firmware update does not seem to have solved the problem.

I noticed a flicker within 5 minutes of restarting after the update... although I was in the Graphics/Display section of System Profiler at the time.

FWIW, I haven't noticed any temperature drop of the GPU... if anything, it's gone up a degree or two.

Just did the firmware update. I had not seen any flickering/blackouts since I reset the PRAM (or whatever I did when I shut down and unplugged everything) anyway, but so far, no further blackouts, although its only been about 15 minutes. We'll see. . .

Well what do you know!

I had not seen the problem for over two weeks and it just started to reappear about 30 minutes ago.

So I just did the update and we will see if ti worked.

So far so good!

Warren Beasley wrote:
I was wondering if a few of you here who have a little more experience and knowledge regarding graphics cards -- such as Sonic99, Schwa72 and Panzuita -- could answer a question for me:

How does the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 graphics card -- which is in the discontinued 24" iMacs -- compare to the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card that is in the i7 iMacs?

I'm not trying to start a graphics card war here, I am just curious how my new i7 machine will compare graphics-wise with my child's 24" iMac -- once it FINALLY gets here.

Thanks!

Performance-wise, the GT 130 falls right between the 9500 GT and the 9600 GT (desktop parts). Based on what I've read, overall, the 9800 GTX = HD 4850, the 8800 GT is 15% slower, and 9600 GT 45% slower. So, the HD 4850 should crush the GT 130.

Obviously, the graphics card manufacturers hasnt learnt anything from Apples way of giving names to their products. No iPhone, iPod og Mac Pro here. Why bother, when you can call them GT 130, 9500 GT, 9600 GT, 9800 GTX, HD 4850 and 8800 GT. Now THATS sexy!

I had a week 50 i7 Quad Core delivered one week ago, and although I haven't experienced any of the screen issues others have, I did apply the update to the graphics card firmware. So far still good.

Stephanie - An iMac Girl

P.S. Thanks Apple

Remember this:

"If your screen remains black after applying the updater or if you continue to experience image corruption or display flickering after successfully completing this update, contact AppleCare or an Apple Authorized Service Provider."

If you want to check the clockspeed of the GPU, the only way I know of is to reboot into Windows and run a program such as GPU-Z. The current clockspeed of my Radeon 4850 before update is 503 MHz/core and 850 MHz/memory - the default for the Mobility Radeon 4850. Check before and after, but remember that the clock chip is only accurate to about 1% up or down. If the core is supposed to be 500 MHz, it can be anything between 495 to 505 MHz without cause for concern.

It looks as if there will be some experiments over the next week or so by users. I was convinced it was hardware as my second machine has been fine for over a month but I have installed the update anyway just in case. It will be fascinating to see how things develop.

Apparently, Apple has found a cure for the flickering issue !
This is the link : http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3181
This is where I found it (Wired Magazine online) : http://tinyurl.com/yav3wxt
Hopefully this solves the issue.

JF

I think you're a little late on your announcement JF73.

Message was edited by: edenorchestra

And also apparently not reading the comments here or elsewhere enough to see that people who have installed the update are still experiencing the issue - for at least some people, if not everyone, this does not fix the problem.

Gavin,
They are still honoring my return. I am returning it tommorow. The update didn't fix an audio issue I had. They are upgrading everything on my machine. 16GB RAM, 2TB HDD, All software, the works. BEST customer service experience ever.

Tom1631,
I called support as well and they told me to bring it to the genious bar. The gentlemen looked over the machine. The audio wouldnt work and he verified that. I also showed him footage on my iPhone of the flickering. He gave me the option to have it repaired, or call Apple Care for a free new replacement. He thought that since the machine was SO NEW, I shouldn't have to get a repaired one. He wrote me a personal letter to apple care and opened me a case stating "customer states flickering and screen anomolies and no audio. confirmed and replicated issue. replace immediately and without questions. next day shipping if possible."

I called Apple Care to initiate. They authorized it and Apple Corporate called me the next day to let me know they have were going to ship me a maxed out iMac i7. My machine originally had 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and Final Cut Express. THEY UPGRADED me to 16GB RAM, 2TB HDD, Final Cut Express, Logic Studio, iWork, and Aperture preinstalled. They even threw in a wireless remote and free expedited shipping. As soon as I ship my machine tommorow and they recieve confirmation, my order will be processed and I will probably wait 2 weeks for it.

A representative of Steve Jobs has been in contact with me to make sure customer service has been taking care of me. He's been calling me personally to guide me day to day and keep me updated.

This was my first Apple purchase.

I was very dissappointed.

They turned the experience COMPLETELY around. The BEST customer service I have EVER experienced. We'll see how it goes from here.
-Cliff