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

Hello to all. Count me in as one of the affected. I received my first i7 direct from Apple in late Dec and it flickered/went black right out of the box. I sent it back to Apple and got a replacement, no questions asked. Received it on Friday, same issue. Spoke with Apple last night who told me I could either return again, or have the LCD screen and cable replaced locally, as this is the fix. He said it's one or the other so they just replace both. Said if I returned for another I stood a good chance of this happening again. I don't want to repair a new machine, but if the alternative is to do this all over again I think I'm willing to try it. Very frustrating.

Our third 27" arrived today and it says the production date is week 2, 2010.

It flickers, but in a different, worse way than the last two. Now instead of blacking out every few hours, it partly dims 5 or 6 times per hour.

The backlight doesn't bleed as badly as the last two, but there are definitely some anomalies in the brightness consistency; dragging a white window around there are noticeable vertical and horizontal troughs where the light is dimmer. In particular, there's a long horizontal trough that stretches across the bottom of the display which is quite noticeable on a blue background.

I have been buying Macs since 1985, and have been disappointed many times over the years. But on balance, I've been overjoyed many times more. Maybe I appreciate the highs more as a result of experiencing the lows?
Despite all the hand wringing posted here, this too will be sorted out in customary Apple style.
But now I'm just intrigued. Why would a blind person want/need/consider purchasing a computer with a 27 inch display? And who told you it was flickering?

The i7 27" iMac was delivered (week 52 build) 3 days ago. So far there are no problems in migrating data from old computer/s. My questions are as follows:
1) How many of us (new 27" iMac owners) have had NO problems?
2) What is the best way to tackle this (...purchase Apple Care?)
3) What are the indications that Apple has actually taken a serious notice of this problem.
4) How many iMacs are cured with the help of Apple "patch"

Best regards

Hi Reinfield,

everybody understands Maudes situation. He's not completely blind. He needs a big screen to have a chance to read and write. You should ask him pardon!

Ok for positive updates from early posters.

My iMac i7 (which is in fact my finest computer ever) used to flicker rarely in 2009, but in 2010 ... "radio silence" from the "flicker" or whatever.
I just applied the firmware update and that's all (and did all the "rain dances" PRAM, NVRAM, unplug etc..)

In december, I installed "BetterTouchTool" to have a "Sleep Display" command with a "Three Finger Click", and a "Wake" one second later moving Magic, but I just used it twice, before the update.

The "Sleep Display" always cured the flickering, in my case. Maybe that can push the LCD cable or make it thinner, but I doubt.

Seems to me flickering is a common issue among the recent HD graphic cards, being GeForce nVidia or ATi Radeon.

Well documented the issue occurs on many platforms when the OS switches profiles within the card adjusting settings according to user interaction.

On the Mac platforms, the screen flickering is an issues on the Late 2008 MacBook Pros

The 2008 Intel iMac 24" also had display flickering.

Now take a look also at this AMD forum and you will see that PCs running Windows Vista Ultimate 64 SP1, and ATI 8.12 Catalyst drivers on HD4800 series, also flicker.

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=105272&STARTPAGE=1 &FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

Stay cool Apple will fix that (SL 10.6.3 is in the pipe).
Enjoy your iMac.

jcw.....A repaired machine may be better than a replaced unit.

That situation has been discussed more than a few pages ago.

If Apple has received a batch of bad components, whether it's the display, or a small cable connector to that display, those bad components may still be sitting on warehouse shelves, and there may not be any way to identify what lot they came from.

It just means that from time to time, bad units may still be produced until all of the bad components are disposed of.

Quality control has nothing to do with this issue. There is no reasonable way to test for this defect, since it is so random in nature. If the defective parts do not carry lot numbers, or other identifying markings, once they are on a warehouse shelf, it may be impossible to remove them from circulation.

Despite what some on this forum want to believe, this problem does affect a very small percentage of units produced and sold, and the overwhelming majority of users who have reported the problem to Apple, have received replacement units, or repairs that solved the problem.

I have my 27" i7 for a week now. (Week 53). It has the flickering issue from the beginning. Will get a new one in about a week.

I do think it is a problem with the graphic chip and not the screen/cable.
Today my iMac screen shifted down a few inches (the dock appeared at the top with about an inch of a weird grey bar right under it followed by the menu bar and the rest of the screen.
When I shut the mac down, the blue screen right before the display turns off didn't have this problem. If it were a problem with the screen/cables why did the problem disappear the instant the desktop disappeared and the "shutdown"-screen came up? Looks more like a software issue to me.

You are one of the few who still think it could be a Software Issue. You could be right! We know Apple's fix for just the 27" ATI machines did not work for most. That fix was addressing only the ATI Card & only the 27" Screen. At that point in time, I guess they did not know that the problem exists on the 21.5" Screen with the NVidia Graphics. I know because I have this iMac. It would be great if the 10.6.3 Update addresses & fixes the issue. The highest success rate so far is people who have had their screen & screen cable replaced. I think these people are still up & running with no Flicker.

Just as an up-date to my earlier post near the beginning of this topic... I received my iMac 27" the second week of December (a week 50 production) It is still running great, no flickers, blank screens, or yellowing, no issues as of this date. (Hope I didn't jinx myself)

Steph

Hello all. Count me as an early poster. I purchased a Week 45 i5 from the Apple Store over Thanksgiving and returned it ten days later (flickered four times, yellow tinge, HD noise).

It seems to me that replacing the LCD and cable is the sure fix here. It disturbs me that Apple is trying to "fix" this problem with pointless firmware updates that appear to only ramp up fan noise.

I want to see if these new, fixed, LCDs/cables are making their way into production units. Regardless, I'm waiting for the next update before I bite again.

It's good to hear good news. Gives us hope that there are still perfect iMacs out there. Not many of course on this Forum.

I also have Week 45. Yellow Tinge/Screen Flicker. 21.5" Screen NVidia Graphics.

SlickRick, So how's the new one working out? And what Week Number is it again? Haven't heard a peep out of you. Maybe your just busy having fun with you perfect new iMac. I hope So.

day 2 of my 3rd imac week 45 machine alls good!!

not missed a beat so far.........