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

I have 2 week 48 units (one for me and one for my mom) of the 27" i7

Mine seems to be OK, though I only had a week to play with it before leaving on vacation halfway across the country to setup my Moms machine and migrate all her stuff from a 8 yr old PC.

Now my mom's machine has a dead pixel and has bouts of flickering. Sometimes it is completely rock solid, others it flickers once a minute. Several complete blackouts, but it always comes back in under a second.

It was doing this both before and after the "flicker update" was applied.

If you sleep the machine, even for less than a minute, it seems to "reset" the flickering for awhile.

I'm really pretty burned up about this and it's made Christmas VERY stressful for me because Mom is 80 years old, not very computer savvy and will probably have a crying fit if I tell her she has to send the machine back for replacement. The machine's too heavy for her to get it out of the box on her own and there's no chance that Apple will turn around a (working) replacement quickly enough for me to still be here to unbox it.

On top of that, this is my only chance to move all the stuff from her old PC to the new mac, so I really can't send the thing back till at least get that done and backed up to her Time Capsule so (hopefully) a restore to a new machine will be painless.

I've been a big supporter of Apple with iPhone 3g's for me and mom, several ipods, a MacBook Pro and now two 27" iMac i7's so I'm pretty bummed out right now, this screw-up of Apple has pretty much wrecked my Christmas.

ME to for sure.. I am the same way iphones air port extreme other mac pros and now i have the flicker and am sending it back. They basically said that there is nothing they can do.

Thanks Rick, for the good Christmas wishes!

So far my Christmas is still flicker free! And you are right, overall my new iMac is a marvel, which is why it would break my heart if I was forced to return it! I don't know if I could go back to my old 2006 20" iMac.... I've been spoiled too!

I got my i5 on Black Friday and 30 minutes into using it I noticed it flickering, the next day it started doing blackouts as well. I returned it for an exchange and I am still waiting for it. It really ****** me off that Apple has not come out and addressed this issue after it has been going on for so long now and the update has not fixed the problem. As others have said, this has ruined my Christmas. I bought this before Christmas to do some heavy video editing for Christmas. I can only hope that when my replacement finally shows up that it is problem free. Really sad that Apple has come out with these beautiful machines that have turned out to be lemons.

I bought my first 27" Imac on October 25th and received it a month later. It is now almost January and I have gone through 3 of them (I have never gotten past the 14 days on each). The last one was awful since it did not turn on. But I'm thinking, if its been this long since I last ordered then the next refresh is only about the same amount of time away! I've had a terrible christmas because of this but much much much way worse because my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on the 17th of December. So now i've opted for a refund because I want to be with my mother for her appointments/surgery and stuff and don't want to waste my time waiting for imacs/replacements and that whole worry. By March, my mother will be well, and I can worry about the Imac there since I will be home during Easter holidays properly + they may have a refresh - and I know for a fact that apple will have sorted 90% of these issues in that refresh, because as the aftersales guy said to me, apple are losing a lot of money through this whole ordeal, and I'm certain they won't let that happen again. So guys, if you can hold on then I would do so, get a refund now and just wait just a little bit longer and you will get to spend the next couple of years having the most amazing machine (I promised my girlfriend that if I buy a £2000 Imac then I will keep it till I am 30 haha, and I am 20 right now :P).

Greg Corson wrote:
I have 2 week 48 units (one for me and one for my mom) of the 27" i7


Now my mom's machine has a dead pixel and has bouts of flickering. Sometimes it is completely rock solid, others it flickers once a minute. Several complete blackouts, but it always comes back in under a second.

I'm really pretty burned up about this and it's made Christmas VERY stressful for me because Mom is 80 years old, not very computer savvy and will probably have a crying fit if I tell her she has to send the machine back for replacement. The machine's too heavy for her to get it out of the box on her own and there's no chance that Apple will turn around a (working) replacement quickly enough for me to still be here to unbox it.

Not sure how to say this without sounding like a d!ck, but you bought your 80-year old, "not very computer savvy" mother a $2200 computer? Don't you think the base model would've been good enough? It's not like she's going to need the i7 to do any heavy-duty 3D rendering or computational fluid dynamics. Hey, it's your money, and no doubt a nice gesture, but...just wow.

Schwa72 wrote:

Not sure how to say this without sounding like a d!ck, but you bought your 80-year old, "not very computer savvy" mother a $2200 computer? Don't you think the base model would've been good enough? It's not like she's going to need the i7 to do any heavy-duty 3D rendering or computational fluid dynamics. Hey, it's your money, and no doubt a nice gesture, but...just wow.

Gulp! It's just my opinion, but maybe you're being a little too insensitive with that remark, Schwa72. He obviously loves his mother very much. Perhaps he got it for her so that she can watch high quality video and movies on the machine. Or maybe they do a lot of video conferencing together, so he wanted her to have a high quality machine for that. We just don't know her situation. With many elderly people who are incapacitated in one way or another, their computer is their only link to the outside world. They use them to communicate with their families, to read the news, to watch movies and TV shows, to write email, etc. It is like their second life.

On a side note, I have a 91-year-old friend with whom I have corresponded via email on a regular basis for the past twelve years, and we have live chatted in the past as well. This woman is still very much coherent, and quite a thunderball for her age. No, she is not a computer whiz, but she is not afraid to tackle a computer problem when it arises. I am amazed by her computer skills.

Schwa72 wrote:

Not sure how to say this without sounding like a d!ck, but you bought your 80-year old, "not very computer savvy" mother a $2200 computer? Don't you think the base model would've been good enough? It's not like she's going to need the i7 to do any heavy-duty 3D rendering or computational fluid dynamics. Hey, it's your money, and no doubt a nice gesture, but...just wow.

Gulp! It's just my opinion, but maybe you're being a little too insensitive with that remark, Schwa72. He obviously loves his mother very much. Perhaps he got it for her so that she can watch high quality video and movies on the machine. Or maybe they do a lot of video conferencing together, so he wanted her to have a high quality machine for that. We just don't know her situation. With many elderly people who are incapacitated in one way or another, their computer is their only link to the outside world. They use them to communicate with their families, to read the news, to watch movies and TV shows, to write email, etc. It is like their second life.

On a side note, I have a 91-year-old friend with whom I have corresponded via email on a regular basis for the past twelve years, and we have live chatted in the past as well. This woman is still very much coherent, and quite a thunderball for her age. No, she is not a computer whiz, but she is not afraid to tackle a computer problem when it arises. I am amazed by her computer skills.

Warren Beasley wrote:

Schwa72 wrote:

Not sure how to say this without sounding like a d!ck, but you bought your 80-year old, "not very computer savvy" mother a $2200 computer? Don't you think the base model would've been good enough? It's not like she's going to need the i7 to do any heavy-duty 3D rendering or computational fluid dynamics. Hey, it's your money, and no doubt a nice gesture, but...just wow.

Gulp! It's just my opinion, but maybe you're being a little too insensitive with that remark, Schwa72. He obviously loves his mother very much. Perhaps he got it for her so that she can watch high quality video and movies on the machine. Or maybe they do a lot of video conferencing together, so he wanted her to have a high quality machine for that. We just don't know her situation. With many elderly people who are incapacitated in one way or another, their computer is their only link to the outside world. They use them to communicate with their families, to read the news, to watch movies and TV shows, to write email, etc. It is like their second life.

On a side note, I have a 91-year-old friend with whom I have corresponded via email on a regular basis for the past twelve years, and we have live chatted in the past as well. This woman is still very much coherent, and quite a thunderball for her age. No, she is not a computer whiz, but she is not afraid to tackle a computer problem when it arises. I am amazed by her computer skills.

I hear ya, Warren, but you can watch high quality video, do video conferencing, communicate perfectly well, or accomplish any of the other tasks you've listed with any Core 2 Duo iMac. In fact, they're also in many ways overkill for these tasks, but they're the cheapest iMacs you can buy.

The quad-core iMacs are a LOT of computer. If you're going to do a lot of video encoding or other processor-intensive tasks, I can see the desire for a quad-core. But I fear that many people (especially in the Apple community) buy the best simply because it's the best. For example, many, many people buy BTO iMacs with 8GB of RAM despite the fact that Apple charges literally TWICE the market value for this memory. I could understand if it were difficult to install the memory, but Apple's made it simple. Ignorance is the only reason I can fathom as to why someone would pay $200 for an $80 memory upgrade.

I realize that my post above might sound a little insensitive, and perhaps an 80-year old computer novice has a valid reason for needing a quad-core monster. Heck, I could certainly afford to buy my 75+ year old parents a Core i7 iMac, but it's simply too much computer for them. Throwing money away, regardless if you're rich or not, is just silly. I just hate to see someone buy "the best" out of ignorance. If that's not the case here, I apologize.

Schwa72 wrote:
The quad-core iMacs are a LOT of computer. If you're going to do a lot of video encoding or other processor-intensive tasks, I can see the desire for a quad-core. But I fear that many people (especially in the Apple community) buy the best simply because it's the best. For example, many, many people buy BTO iMacs with 8GB of RAM despite the fact that Apple charges literally TWICE the market value for this memory. I could understand if it were difficult to install the memory, but Apple's made it simple. Ignorance is the only reason I can fathom as to why someone would pay $200 for an $80 memory upgrade.

Ha! You got me there!

As you may recall, I ordered -- and am yet to receive -- a 2.8 GHZ i7 iMac with 8 GB of RAM and the 2 TB hard drive, the middle of November. It is indeed a lot of power for my current needs.

However, when I purchase a Mac, I keep a few things in mind. First, I buy the best that I can afford at the time, because I realize that it will be my last major purchase for years to come, and I want it to last.

For example, right now, I am typing this message on an almost nine-year-old G4 mini-tower with an almost ten-year-old 17" Apple Studio Display connected to it. It's been through a few hard drive swaps, memory upgrades, fan cleanings, and a graphics card swap from my even older 500 Mhz G4 mini-tower, which has finally kicked the bucket, but this G4 is still running and useful.

Granted, from what I have been told, these new iMacs won't last as long as my G4's, but my point is, I purchase big with length of service in mind. I strongly believe in getting my money's worth out of a product, and I figure that the more that I pay, the longer it should last...at least so goes the theory.

Second, I purchase big, because I don't know the future. I don't know how big applications will be during the next few years, how much hard drive space they will require, how much memory they will require, etc. In short, by purchasing more than what I need, I leave plenty of room for growth.

That's just the way that I personally tend to operate. Others here may have other approaches.

Warren Beasley wrote:

Schwa72 wrote:
The quad-core iMacs are a LOT of computer. If you're going to do a lot of video encoding or other processor-intensive tasks, I can see the desire for a quad-core. But I fear that many people (especially in the Apple community) buy the best simply because it's the best. For example, many, many people buy BTO iMacs with 8GB of RAM despite the fact that Apple charges literally TWICE the market value for this memory. I could understand if it were difficult to install the memory, but Apple's made it simple. Ignorance is the only reason I can fathom as to why someone would pay $200 for an $80 memory upgrade.

Ha! You got me there!

As you may recall, I ordered -- and am yet to receive -- a 2.8 GHZ i7 iMac with 8 GB of RAM and the 2 TB hard drive, the middle of November. It is indeed a lot of power for my current needs.

However, when I purchase a Mac, I keep a few things in mind. First, I buy the best that I can afford at the time, because I realize that it will be my last major purchase for years to come, and I want it to last.

For example, right now, I am typing this message on an almost nine-year-old G4 mini-tower with an almost ten-year-old 17" Apple Studio Display connected to it. It's been through a few hard drive swaps, memory upgrades, fan cleanings, and a graphics card swap from my even older 500 Mhz G4 mini-tower, which has finally kicked the bucket, but this G4 is still running and useful.

Granted, from what I have been told, these new iMacs won't last as long as my G4's, but my point is, I purchase big with length of service in mind. I strongly believe in getting my money's worth out of a product, and I figure that the more that I pay, the longer it should last...at least so goes the theory.

Second, I purchase big, because I don't know the future. I don't know how big applications will be during the next few years, how much hard drive space they will require, how much memory they will require, etc. In short, by purchasing more than what I need, I leave plenty of room for growth.

That's just the way that I personally tend to operate. Others here may have other approaches.

Fair enough. I guess if you intend to use the computer for several years then buying the best you can afford is worth. That's the excuse I use when I buy top-of-the-line stuff...but then I wind up replacing it waaay before it's obsolete.

It's probably too late now, but if you can avoid it, don't order the factory-installed RAM! In all seriousness, installing additional memory in the new iMacs is literally the easier computer hardware upgrade I've ever done...and I've done many.

Schwa72 wrote:
Fair enough. I guess if you intend to use the computer for several years then buying the best you can afford is worth. That's the excuse I use when I buy top-of-the-line stuff...but then I wind up replacing it waaay before it's obsolete.

It's probably too late now, but if you can avoid it, don't order the factory-installed RAM! In all seriousness, installing additional memory in the new iMacs is literally the easier computer hardware upgrade I've ever done...and I've done many.

I'm a bit surprised by that statement. Considering how much we must pay for these beautiful machines, I don't know of anyone who wouldn't intend to use their computer for several years at the very least.

Being as I live on a tight fixed income in my current retirement, I can't afford to be purchasing a brand new Mac whenever I get the whim. Maybe others here can -- that is, the rich Apple elitists, har, har -- but certainly not me. Thus, as I said, I make these machines last as long as possible. It took me years to save up for this machine, and even then, I am putting myself out on the limb to purchase it. This is a very major purchase for me, which is one reason why I am so concerned regarding all of these reported problems.

Concerning the RAM, being as I purchased via an AAR, I suspect that the extra RAM may not come factory pre-installed, although I am not certain of this. It may very well be that the AAR ordered my i7 without the extra RAM, and they will be installing it themselves, in order to keep the price down. Even still, I am paying just over $3000 for this machine.

Woooooo ..... it seems to me that we are getting off the topic.

To put the discussion to rest...I got my mom the 27" i7 Mac because she hates changing hardware and messing with software installs/config. Her last machine is over 8 years old, it works but today's software (even E-Mail clients) expects a lot faster machine. She'll probably keep this iMac a long time so I wanted plenty of CPU for HD video conferencing and future labor saving software to help her keep things organized.

She actually uses the computer a lot and has done a book and a huge website about Notre Dame University http://www.nd.edu/~wcawley/default.htm Running face recognition software over 10,000 photos takes some CPU power.

Now back to the flicker discussion....this machine has been flicker free all morning since a restart...maybe whatever causes this is heat related or load related (the only thing I've done so far is web browsing). Anyone else noticed that a brief sleep/restart seems to "reset" the flickering?

An update. Apple just now posted something for their techs on their support site about the flickering. Unfortunately it isn't anything to get excited about and ends in a solution that they have no further information posted about. So it ends in saying if it does not fix it to take it in to get repaired, but they then don't have any real solutions for how a tech is supposed to go about repairing the problem. Nothing that has been updated or that I haven't already tried anyway.

Resolution

*Quit all open applications, then download the update.*

*1. The downloader will place the disk image with an installer in your Downloads folder or in the location specified in the General tab under Safari > Preferences.*
*2. If you downloaded the disk image via Safari, Safari will notify you that an application is in the image. Click OK to continue.*
*3. If "Open safe files after downloading" is enabled in Safari preferences, the disk image file will mount by itself. If that preference is not enabled in Safari, double-click the disk image to mount it.*

*Install the update. Note: you will need the administrator password for the installation.*

*1. Some USB and FireWire devices may prevent firmware updates from installing correctly; disconnect non-essential devices and use only an Apple keyboard and mouse to apply the update.*
*2. Your computer's power cord must be connected and plugged into a working power source.*
*3. In the mounted disk image, double-click the 27-inchiMacGraphicsFWUpdate.pkg file to start the firmware update process.*
*4. A welcome screen appears. Click Continue. If you receive the message "Your computer does not need this update," your computer is not eligible for this update.*
*5. Follow the onscreen instructions that appear.*
*6. An "Installation completed successfully" window appears. Click Close.*
*7. It may take up to 4 minutes to install the update. You may see a progress dialog appear, indicating the status of the update. Important: Do not disturb or shut off the power on your iMac during this update. Loss of power could result in your iMac not starting up.*
*8. An "Installation completed successfully" window appears. Click Restart and your computer should restart.*

*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.*_

*To determine if the update has already been applied to your computer, follow these steps:*

*1. From the Apple () menu in the upper left menu bar, choose About this Mac.*
*2. Click More Info.*
*3. In the hardware section, click Graphics/Displays.*
*4. Locate the ROM Revision field. You should see revision 113-B9110C-425 or 113-B8030F-260 if the update has been successfully applied.*