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

Today applestore.com dropped the shipping time of 27-inch: 3.06GHz to 1 week.

Two things I've been trying to find out are how many iMac units have been sold and how many have been returned due to flickering/yellow issues. Reading these forums gives the impression that every second (exaggerating here) iMac are defective, which of course isn't the case. Some real numbers would be nice though...

This doesn't give any clue to the amount of iMacs sold but it is a list compiled from various internet resources of the scale of the problem.
http://imac.squeaked.com/results.php
Of course there must be an unknown amount of others who have not registered there problems on imac.squeaked and no doubt thousands who have no problems at all.

Returned my imac 27'' i5 last night for a new unit. So far (keep fingers crossed) everything looks fantastic! The return process was very smooth and fast. One thing that I found a bit peculiar is that they wanted to keep the extra 4 gb of memory and give me new memory (instead of simply transferring it from the defective unit). When asked why, they mentioned that Apple wants the returned units in the precise configuration that the flickering occurred. Seems to me as if they still are baffled by all of this!

Well, with a great deal of regret, I returned my i7 for a full refund yesterday. I spent over an hour on the phone being put on terminal hold and transferred all over. I finally ended up with a senior representative who said I was outside my 14-day return period and suggested a repair. I said I was not going to have a repaired machine and wanted a refund. I got what I wanted with relatively little resistance. Apple obviously knows they have a problem.

I just can't enjoy a defective machine. I'll either wait for the next revision or see what the Mac Pro refresh looks like. Luckily, I hadn't sold my 2006 Mac Pro so I still have a Mac in my house.

So I got my 27i a week before Christmas and I posted here about the occassional flicker and black screen. It continued totally random between periods of time.

The WEIRD THiNG is: Since I've been back to working non-stop since the new year, I haven't noticed it at all, and I've been maxing the thing out video wise doing editing, photoshop and livestreaming and using Adobe Flash Media Encoder and haven't noticed the flicker (fingers crossed)

it almost feels like either:

A. It's gone for some reason.
B. It happens and then each time it happens there's a longer time between for the next time.
C. Apple somehow sent a software fix remotely to people who have the "help Apple" service thingy turned on. I'd heard they have a way of doing this.

I'm hoping it was A. and C.

I'm 99% sure this is a softward or driver problem and NOT hardware because I've really been pushing this machine, and it's bad-***.

Crowis wrote:

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...

No one paused the production for 2 weeks (including Apple), sorry they did (for a while) actually - due to X-Mas.
BTW; If you have a problem with your iMac - just return it or get it fixed = very simple process and Apple will not argue or dispute any claims.
If still not happy, obtain one of many Windows 7 based contraptions and shut up.

Alrighty then... Im sitting at home (taking valuable time from work) because my 27 inch i7 (ROUND 2!) is on fedex truck for delivery... and I have my fingers (AND TOES) crossed hoping this is the one... although I should have got a perfect machine the first time and this is ridiculous that I have to go thru this crap hoping my $3000+ computer works this time... Its all good though because im listening to my free ipod shuffle they gave me for my trouble... (lol) and YO the new shuffles dont have buttons!!! so u can only really listen to them with controls if you use the headphones they gave you with it... (lame).. alright... ill be back on here after my lunch break with the status of my round 2 27inch imac... LETS HOPE IT WORKS!

SlickRick, I called B&H & the Customer Service guy told me, you just have to get the exchange Authorization by Jan 18th., which means you could send it out on the 18th. That is what he said. He also told me they have only received 3 returns on my Model & only one was for a defect. He then told me the last shipment he received was on December 20th. Keep me posted on B&H as we both bought ours from there. Thanks & Good Luck!

The numbers have been posted here before, however, they are worth posting again for all of the newbies, and those who do not take the time to read all 150+ pages of posts.

Current numbers are not available yet since the quarter covering the release of the 27" models has just ended.

In the quarter prior to the new model release, Apple sold 3.5 million computers, of all models.

Analysts were expecting an increase of 20% in sales due to the Christmas season, and a similar increase to cover the new models.

Apple has reported an increase of 74% in sales over the previous Christmas seasons sales.

From there, you just have to do the math. Sales of the 27" models have swamped Apple, neither they, nor the analysts, came close to the predictions, and these new models have certainly made up the bulk of the increase in sales.

You're not just talking about hundreds of thousands, but millions of units sold.

Searching around the web, you will find less than a thousand reports of defective units from individual users. Certainly there are more who did not post, and certainly, there are a number of trolls out there, but given the sheer volume of sales, the defective machines represent a small fraction of the total number of units produced.

Guys, It's NOT the Video Cards. Think about it. How can 2 different Video Card Manufacturers have the same defects. ATI & NVidia. Having them replace your Video card is a waste of time. If you read thoroughly on these forums, the only people who had a successful repair (So far that is), are the folks that had their entire Screen & Screen Cable. Everyone on here who had their Video Card replaced are still experiencing symptoms.

1% ????? Who Said That? Are you kidding? All you have to do is read through this Forum & do the Math. Defective iMacs are from all over the World. Denmark, UK, Germany, Australia, USA, etc...And people are getting up to 5 iLemons in a row. Don't be in Denial. Apple is just a company. They are not perfect. They make mistakes also. Let's not treat a corporation as if they are some sort of a God!

"my free ipod shuffle they gave me for my trouble... (lol) and YO the new shuffles dont have buttons!!! so u can only really listen to them with controls if you use the headphones they gave you with it... (lame)"

Sorry Kurt.....I just couldn't help but snicker at this post.

Only a Mac user could be justified in complaining about something free. Apple has spoiled us all far too long.

Even as minor as the flickering problem is, it is a small dose of reality that lets us all know that even Apple isn't perfect.

I strongly suspect that there are some here who would complain about a flickering i7, even if it was free.

Yes the NVidia Card has Yellow Tinge & Screen Flicker. I'm typing from one. If you read on here, you'll see anyone who got their Video Card replaced still has these Symptoms. It's NOT the Video Card. It''s the Screen & THe Screen Cable. Those are the only people who had their Mac repaired & so far, it has been successful.

I do hope a new screen and cable turns out to be the fix as it's what I'm having done on Monday. I've just got this nagging doubt because way back in the earlier pages of this thread Sonics99 replaced both these components and for a few days it all looked good. Unfortunately he came back later and reported it was flickering again. He did say that it was possible that the new components may have had the same problem in effect replacing bad with bad. I haven't seen him on here lately so I don't know if he continued with any other repairs.