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

atlatnesiti wrote:

spurv2 wrote:
Some people, like the post just above yours, have had no problems with their new iMac until after 4 weeks or more. So ... declaring your iMac a success after 48 hours + "a few more days" ... hmmm ... 'just saying.

I am declaring my success after 2 months - PLEASE READ posts before replying

Practice what you preach dude, he said the post above yours...

I bought my iMac from an Apple premium reseller in Denmark. On November 24, I brought it back to the store after 2 weeks of flickering. They got Apple to declare it DOA, so I was signed up for a new iMac.
Just got a new one from week 52 yesterday. When I picked it up, I tried to get some answers to this flickering problem. The sales clerk told me that Apple had recalled the reseller's iMacs, because the iMacs had had a faulty graphics card. The reseller wasn't given any specific details about this problem. Only that they would receive new iMacs in January without a faulty graphics card. The sales clerk also agreed with me that Apple is very silent about this matter, and that it is how Apple usually work around problems like this, so she wasn't surprised.

My new iMac seems to be ok, but I will not stop worrying about flickering/blackouts the next couple of months

Crowis wrote:

atlatnesiti wrote:

spurv2 wrote:
Some people, like the post just above yours, have had no problems with their new iMac until after 4 weeks or more. So ... declaring your iMac a success after 48 hours + "a few more days" ... hmmm ... 'just saying.

I am declaring my success after 2 months - PLEASE READ posts before replying

Practice what you preach dude, he said the post above yours...

I am "practising what I preach"
My i7 (2 months old) is PERFECT!
.1 percent of "crapped" iMacs does NOT make Apple a bad seed...

Got my new 27" i5 yesterday, transferred all the files from the old 20" (white) iMac to it easily with the current OS 10.6.2. Nothing wrong at all. It works perfect. Takes some time to get used to the new mouse though. It is sensitive to the sides. Here is hardware info. Would appreciate someone telling me what week it was built. I ordered it about Nov. 1, got it after Jan.1,2010 so it had to be built in late Dec. 09.
Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac11,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: IM111.0034.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.54f33
Serial Number (system): QP9510AF5PJ
Hardware UUID: C5C07585-307C-5859-83EC-DB9C70EE980A

atlatnesiti wrote:

Crowis wrote:

atlatnesiti wrote:

spurv2 wrote:
Some people, like the post just above yours, have had no problems with their new iMac until after 4 weeks or more. So ... declaring your iMac a success after 48 hours + "a few more days" ... hmmm ... 'just saying.

I am declaring my success after 2 months - PLEASE READ posts before replying

Practice what you preach dude, he said the post above yours...

I am "practising what I preach"
My i7 (2 months old) is PERFECT!
.1 percent of "crapped" iMacs does NOT make Apple a bad seed...

No you're not. Learn to read. He did not talk about you, but rather someone ABOVE your post. .1% you say.... since some people receive 3-4 faulty imac we're talking more than .1%. Big industrys don't pause the production for 2 weeks because of .1%, it would not be worth it...

According to your serial number (QP9510AF5PJ) it was made in week 51

Liviooo

My 2nd replacement iMac 27 has just started flickering 2 weeks after delivery. It came with the Firmware update pre-installed ... but unfortunately #FAIL

iMac i7 8GB - PERFECT

Ok, just had my iMac 27" back from repair. Said they replaced the videocard and ran the update. However, problem seems to be worse than before. Screen flickering, turn-off and on, dock placed somewhere in the middle of the screen. Awful. According to support engineer from Apple, they might have replaced the video card with an old version, while they should have replaced it with a version from the new batch. So now going back to repair again, this time again replace the video card. Awful. If it is still not repaired the second time I'm going to ask my money back. Thinking about switching back to PC really.

Crowis wrote:.... since some people receive 3-4 faulty imac we're talking more than .1%. Big industrys don't pause the production for 2 weeks because of .1%, it would not be worth it...

Who says that Apple halted production at all, let alone for 2 weeks?
From where did you get this information, other than rumours and speculation?

There has been a shipping delay, not a production delay. A back-log due to a large number of orders.

Spammerboy wrote:
Ok, just had my iMac 27" back from repair. Said they replaced the videocard and ran the update. However, problem seems to be worse than before.

Spammerboy, ask them to replace the LCD and cable. The accumulating anecdotal evidence suggests that the graphic card is not at fault. Read backward a few pages in this thread and you will see.

All the best.

thank you

DeeJay SchmeeJay wrote:

Crowis wrote:.... since some people receive 3-4 faulty imac we're talking more than .1%. Big industrys don't pause the production for 2 weeks because of .1%, it would not be worth it...

Who says that Apple halted production at all, let alone for 2 weeks?
From where did you get this information, other than rumours and speculation?

There has been a shipping delay, not a production delay. A back-log due to a large number of orders.

My local Apple store. The shipment delay is due to the problems with the imacs, not because many people ordered an imac. The reason for the delay was that Apple wanted to replace faulty graphic cards. Check the computerworld article for example. Something that left me wondering was that he said that they only replaced the ATI cards. But doesn't the 9400M imacs also have this problem?

I've tested my week 2 iMac i7 for over 2 hours. So far no flickers. There appears to be a very slight yellow tint towards the bottom half of the screen when running the yellow check test from http://imac.squeaked.com/test.php

There are no noticeable dead or stuck pixels on the LCD. However there are around 6 stuck pixels in the built-in camera.

I ran a movie at 720p and the GPU temp stayed at 64C. The upper back of the iMac is hot to touch.

In summary: no major problems - yet. I hope it remains that way. I will report again if any flicker appears.

Crowis wrote:

DeeJay SchmeeJay wrote:
Who says that Apple halted production at all, let alone for 2 weeks?
From where did you get this information, other than rumours and speculation?

There has been a shipping delay, not a production delay. A back-log due to a large number of orders.

My local Apple store. The shipment delay is due to the problems with the imacs, not because many people ordered an imac. The reason for the delay was that Apple wanted to replace faulty graphic cards. Check the computerworld article for example. Something that left me wondering was that he said that they only replaced the ATI cards. But doesn't the 9400M imacs also have this problem?

Yeah, there's a lot of varied (and dodgy) information out there - and even some of the "journalistic reports" are just speculating. Check out this report from CNET:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10415418-37.html

High volume of Mac sales may account for iMac delay
Apple's delay in shipping the 27-inch iMac may have more to do with the sheer volume of sales than any problems with the graphics chips, according to numbers from market research firm NPD.
Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, told CNET on Monday that for October and November, Mac desktop sales were up 74 percent over the same period last year. While NPD did not break the numbers down by desktop model, it's clear the iMac is a top seller.
In fact, the 27-inch iMac appears to be selling so well, it could account for the shipping delay that Apple apologized for on Sunday.
"It's not surprising Apple would be having problems supplying them [iMacs]," said Baker. "I can't imagine in their wildest dreams they would have thought they would sell like this."

The CompterWorld report draws upon Apple Authorised Resellers for it's information.
Its title is "Graphics issues force Apple to delay iMac orders, resellers report"
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142199/Graphicsissues_force_Apple_to_delay_iMac_orders_resellersreport?taxonomyId=66&pageNumber=2

And when you get to the very end of the report on the 2nd page you read:

Apple has not responded to multiple e-mails asking for comment on the 27-in. iMac screen issues, including one Friday requesting information about the two-week shipping delay. Apple typically refuses to comment on hardware issues, preferring instead to quietly publish a support document to its site.

Then there's this:
http://www.macworld.com/article/145075/2009/12/imac_delays.html

And this:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10414512-37.html?tag=mncol;title

Apple on Sunday apologized to customers amid reports of shipping delays of its recently introduced iMac computer
"The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible," an Apple spokesperson told CNET. "We apologize for any inconvenience or delay this may cause our customers."

The only thing Apple have officially confirmed is that there is indeed a shipping delay, due to the popularity of the product. There's the odd contradictory "word-of-mouth" report from resellers and Apple sales people - but we can't really consider this reliable information.