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

Thank you again......
And
Of course...... lets never discount the real prospects that some 27" Machines - have indeed had a "rough transit" - to its final (User) destination?

I'll keep watching this....

Just saw this on the refurb section of Apple's website.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB952LL/A?mco=MTU3ODU5MzY
Think it's now safe to buy an i7?

I think it is a crapshoot until Apple actually figures out what is wrong and fixes it.

I have lucked out so far with my week-old I7...but since some machines don't become troublesome until a couple of weeks into ownership...who the heck knows?

If there was a real fix applied to the refurbs...I think we'd know.

An excellent question, I too wonder how many machines having the problem had data and applications imported. Maybe some residual effect of previous system settings?

As to your comment
"I do so because I will be receiving my first 27" iMac (C2D) next week (ex singapore factory).... this being a replacement machine (supplied under Applecare Warranty) for my 18 month old (and much loved) 24" iMac (C2D) which endured many component failures & replacements; Optical Drive (x2) HDD FAN, HDD and finally the Logic Board & Video Card. (Note: all to no avail... in fixing/resolving a persistant "Kernel Panic")"

This worries me greatly. This sounds exactly like the POS PC my wife had. Dell finally had to ship her a new unit. The dud unit had the video card x2, LCD screen, cooling fan, hard drive, and logic board replaced. If she got an Apple and it had those problems I would never hear the end of it.

I had looked forward to replacing my 2003 Powerbook 1.25 GH and 80GB HD but it may be a long time before I am willing to take a chance on an iMac. I love Apple but I am not about to take a chance on an iMac with the current situation. I wanted to use it for professional photography editing but with these problems, that doesn't seem feasible.

Oh well, guess we cross our fingers and wait.

i7 iMac, week 47, delivered on 20th November 2009.
Absolutely flawless...
Go and figure...

BTW; Have anyone here experienced any problems after more than 6 weeks?

atlatnesiti wrote:
BTW; Have anyone here experienced any problems after more than 6 weeks?

I guess not.
BTW; 400 or so faulty 27" iMacs (out of hundreds of thousands sold) is not a bad statistic in comparison to HP, Dell, Toshiba and such like...
Cheer up guys, Apple always gets on top of any (problem) situation - it did in the past and It surely will now.

Message was edited by: atlatnesiti

i think most people thoughts/worries are whether they should just return them for now!

maybe if we all sent them back in droves then apple would start realising!

i mean if apple turned round and said "we will offer an extended warranty on the known issues" then people would relax but as apple dont acknowledge it i think their worried they will end up stitched up in the long run!

im seriously thinking about taking mine back.

Why?

spurv2 wrote:
Why?

why indeed? Apple will replace or fix your bad iMac with no (to many) questions asked.
Be patient, Apple will fix this "issue" soon for sure.

Atlatnesiti,

It seems that you don't even know how to count. If you check the site "imac.squeaked.com" there are more than one thousand(+1000) iMacs reported already just in that site. That may be a small figure in general but according to what users are telling and all the articles mentioning the problem in different webs it is definitely a widespread issue. Also I'm sure there are plenty of people who prefer to report any problem with their machines right away with Apple instead of trying to find out a solution on their own in these forums.

Apart from that(maybe you're not aware of it) there are loads of people from many non-english speaking countries who can and are buying this iMacs and won't report anything in these forums.

Good for you that you've been lucky!. However, I wouldn't be surprised if you're a bit nervious too, otherwise you wouldn't be here wasting your time...

Regrettably, my week 52 (W8952*) 27" iMac i5 -- my second replacement -- has just exhibited the same blackout/horizontal band flickering problem as the previous two machines I had.

This machine came with the firmware update already applied.

I am completely confounded on how this problem could be rare, but happen to the same person on three different computers. I have lost so much time troubleshooting this issue, and hauling my machine back and forth from the Apple Store (the first replacement had the display, v-sync cable, and video card replaced before they gave up on it). I am deeply frustrated and disappointed that Apple has not disseminated more information to both the public and to their support staff. I have owned literally dozens of Apple computers and devices since 1979, and probably "sold' many times more to family, friends, and colleagues through recommendations. But for the first time, I cannot recommend this product to anyone.

Like some others, I have noticed that the problem seems more likely to occur in the first 90 minutes or so of use after a starting up from a turned-off computer in the morning.

My i7 ran flawless for 2 weeks before the flickering/tearing/shutoff began. No rhyme or reason what would triggered it to happen one day and not others. Did everything I was suppose to do and what worked for other on this discussion group. Called Apple support, no answers as to why it was happening or how to fix it. They suggested I return it (I guess he did read this discussion group) Finally, I about turning off "Airport" and that seems to have fixed my problem so far.

re: Schwa72

I've had it for ~3 weeks (delivered 12/11), and it worked fine the first 2.5 until I installed the firmware patch a couple of days ago.

I didn't transfer anything from anywhere else. I replaced the original HD with an SSD and installed a fresh copy of OS X. The optical drive was also replaced with an SSD, and a fresh Win 7 was installed on that drive.

I am completely confounded on how this problem could be rare, but happen to the same person on three different computers.

dr.forbin,

You are correct! It can't be a rare problem.
Many others here have mentioned that there 2nd or even 3rd replacement have had the same problems.

To me, that is a definitive indication that the problem is wide spread.
If it wasn't, the odds of someone getting more than one faulty unit would be very slim and Apple would have made the problem and this thread disappear long ago simply by replacing the "few" faulty units in circulation.

So, definitely wide spread I would say.

In my line of work, (entertainment), I can easily think of more than 20 people who would not know what to do if there machines showed these problems.
Most people do not even know that discussions like this even exist.