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

IMO I would have to sat Wait!

I opened mine Christmas Day & called & reported my issue to Apple & got a Case Number & told the Rep, I would not be returning it until I feel Apple has found the problem & a Solution. So I'm Waiting.

But I called B&H today, & I have until Jan 18th for B&H to swap it out. The Customer Service rep at B&H told me he couldn't let me know the Serial Number on the replacement until I returned mine. I was trying to see if they have received a newer shipment of week 01 iMacs. I'm going to still wait but may take my chances on my first exchange through B&H. By the time it gets there on the 18th, they probably won't ship another one out to me until the Jan 20th. That should give me time enough to get a chance at a newer (hopefully better) batch. I'm playing my first iMac Lottery by doing this, but I may get lucky. If not, from there I'll go to Apple & make them deal with it. But I may play my B&H Card while I still have the chance to exchange with them.

Just went to the apple store in south center washington and they kept my machine. They said that they were ordering a new video card for it and I should be able to pick it up by the weekend..I hope. Hopefully the problem is gone, he said that it was from a new lot. But I think that is what people were waiting here for with week 52. I hope it is newer than that.

So for some machines, their replacing Screen & Screen Cables. And now they are replacing your Video Card. These are machines with the same problem. Flicker & Blackouts. Very strange!

If you want to stop your Screen from Flickering for a day or 2, try running Onyx on Automation with everything checked. I've been doing this every 2-3 days. If I don't run it wether I put screen to sleep or not as suggested here, I get Flicker. This is just in my particular case, I guess. But it's always worth a shot. What Onyx could do to help my screen Flicker, I cannot even imagine. But it does! The Mystery continues...

Dino1956 wrote:
Apple does have a guy testing these before they are boxed . Correct? Well than those people need to be set up with an Eye Exam ASAP.

I just checked Apple's job postings and they are hiring a reliability engineer in Shanghai, China. I wonder if they sacked the one working the iMac production line, or if they are just getting some extra help? :^)

Jon, that is hysterical. Your probably right! He & his staff need a yearly Eye Exam. Because if they can't see Yellow Screen & Flickering Screens, they definitely need their eyes checked. Too funny! Thanks!

Jon, can you attach the Link for that Posting ? Or were you just kidding ?

Dino1956 wrote:
Jon, can you attach the Link for that Posting ? Or were you just kidding ?

Here is the job posting. Any takers?

+Job description+
+Requisition Number 4132619+
+Job title Reliability Engineer+
+Location Shanghai+
+Country China+
+City Shanghai+
+State/Province Shanghai+
+Job type Full Time+
+Job description Apple seeks a Reliability Engineer with extensive Reliability prediction/analysis knowledge, Quality control and program management to drive new initiatives that will reduce field failures across all Mac products and components. This will involve establishing Reliability design rules, creating new Rel test methodology, driving vendor quality/Rel improvements. Fast paced work in a multitasking environment is a pre-requisite.+

+The position is China based where extensive travel to different vendors is expected with occasional travel in Asia and US.+


+The candidate is expected to have held senior Engineering/Graduate Research experience of 2-5 years with a lead hands on reliability background for 2 years. Evidence of major Reliability/Quality program accomplishments must be demonstrated.+

+We are looking for Candidates with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Material science or Physics. Working knowledge of JEDEC/EIA or IPC Reliability test standards are a plus.+

I probably catch **** for that! But I think the timing is perfect. What a Punch Line!

Dino: Yes, that is strange, since this is the very same store that I had the screen and cable replaced at. Of course, in my case the Tech person at Apple support, said he had called the store told the store to order and replace the screen and cable, on mine.

BTW: Still no flickers or blackouts.

I usually activate sleep via the Apple Menu - how do you just send the display to sleep? I simply never bothered that's why I don't know this shortcut...

I had same problem so had my camera ready to take photo Got the computer 21dec and has been playing up most of that time

System Preferences/Exposé - you'll see a picture of a screen and you can choose the display to sleep there so that when you drag the mouse pointer into corner it will sleep the display (there are also other options that can be triggered). So you could configure each corner to do something different if you wish.

As a potential buyer of a iMac 27 I've been watching this thread from the start and find the whole thing quite unbelievable: started October 27th 2009; 144 pages; over 340,000 views; well over 2,000 posts and counting, and STILL people reporting faulty systems, even after their 2nd or 3rd return...

It's astonishing how a corporation like Apple who pride themselves on quality designs and manufacturing have managed this situation, either from a public relations perspective or in tackling the technical challenges. Surely all you people who have invested in bad systems deserve at least an official acknowledgement of the problem but as far as I know there's been nothing except a very sheepish looking firmware announcement that hasn't actually solved anything.

The evidence here suggests there's no internal communication and no coherent strategy whatsoever. Firstly, people are getting different responses from Support, the stores and AARs - some (STILL!) claim to have never heard of the problem, some replace cables/screens/graphics cards, and some suggest a series of resets. Sounds like nobody knows what the **** is wrong but they can't possibly use the words "we don't know" so they take a wild stab in the dark and waste more of your time and their money. Secondly, faulty systems are being replaced with no apparent thought into the likelihood of the replacement also being faulty?? Duh, if the replacement comes from the same batch or if no changes have been made to the manufacturing process it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure there's a good chance it will also be bad.

Call me a pessimist, but I think Apple will have assessed the damage (to revenue and reputation) and decided not to stop production because of the limited numbers affected. There may be stock piles of iMacs with no way of knowing which are faulty, so by sending them out to unsuspecting customers they will eventually weed out the ones nobody’s willing to accept. Looking at this thread and others like it all over the world, I think they’ve underestimated the damage this will have done their reputation and missed an opportunity (about 2 months ago) to react responsibly and communicate to their customers.

The technical reasons for the issues are intriguing and no doubt will be resolved (I think most likely to be related to heat or the quality of electrical signal, not software), but to me Apple's management of the situation is far more concerning. I won’t be buying until long after this problem goes away.

Good luck everyone