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

Just an update on my situation. After a TON of shuffling around, it appears that Apple won't refund my purchase. In fact, they said that they never refund ADC purchases. So, they are sending a replacement machine. Has anyone received a replacement with NO issues?

Has anyone received a replacement with NO issues?


A replacement with no issues is like believing in god, we suppose that exists but nobody saw it, all is about an act of faith.

By the way, my replacement machine have issues as i expected.

If I bought my imac through macmall or other site, what is procedure for sending back to have screen and cable replaced? Will apple just do it? could the apple store in town send it? Thx!

Finally shipped my iMacFlicker/Yellow Tinge Week 25 back to B&H in NY, who I bought it from. I'm going with an exchange. This would be my first exchange. I'm the guy who waited forever. As I was packing up the iMac, I realized how easy it could be damaged in Shipping. Trucks, Warehouse, Hot, Cold, & B&H did not pack it as good as I had thought. There was a corner of both boxes that was bruised. It must have hit hard on that throw. B&H told me they just got a new Shipment, the end of Dec. By the time mine gets to them, they check it out, & send me a new one, It'll be at least the end of January. Maybe I even have a chance of a Week 03 from this New Year. I'm not counting on it though. So now I'm officially in the iMac Lottery. I just hope I get lucky with the first exchange. I know most of you have not, and I feel for you.

So now I just got finished setting my trusty Mac Mini up in my Office with my 19" Samsung Monitor & I have to say, even the defective iMac Screen is better than this Monitor. I only had the 21.5" iMac but it looked a lot bigger than this 19". So I'm a bit sad & miss my Yellow Tinge Flicker iLemon. I will be on here tomorrow at 11 AM to see if Apple Techs show up. Sorry for the long post, I needed someone to tell. Please Wish Me Luck!!

Well, I applied the firmware update in December to fix the flickering that developed on my 27-inch iMac and it seemed to work. Now, just today, the flickering is back. I'd rather hold out for a permanent firmware fix than to have to start all over re-installing everything on a new unit.

well...after having gone through most of the 180 pages of this thread I have decided to hold my 27" i7 order for the time being. Hope the next few weeks will bring more good news about these otherwise fantastic machines !

Hi everyone, I just want to start off by saying that I have been following this thread since the beginning of December, and I have read this thread in its entirety. I received my 27-inch iMac early December and I didn't see any problems for the first week or 2 even. This of course was prime time holiday season so I also wasn't on it very much.

So my experience is as follows:

I first notice the flicker so I begin to really research the problem. Shortly thereafter the firmware is updated, so I update. The next day I experience flicker and the display blacking out as much as it ever has. I call Apple tech support and they ask me to bring it into an Apple authorized service provider. I do even though I feel as if its just a formality. It sits at their shop for a week. I called everyday asking for an update. They never find a problem. I know that even if the AASP found a problem that they would want to replace the video card, logic board, or if I was lucky the screen and cable. But this is a new computer, and I don't want that. Not to mention more wasted time.

So I call Apple tech support back and speak with a low level tech advisor. He of course "doesn't know anything about that issue". He tells me that my 14 day period is up and that he doesn't really see any other options for me other than having it fixed by a AASP or bringing it home as is. I reference this thread, tell him of other people having the same issue. I describe other peoples experience in dealing with senior advisors/managers of apple stores/etc. He asks me to hold. I do for about 5 minutes. I am transfered to a Senior Advisor.

This guy is very nice, doesn't act like there isn't an issue, but doesn't come out and say much either. He reviews my file, asks me a few questions. Advises me to go pick up my iMac from the AASP so he and I can "run some tests". I do. Now he explains to me that we will run these tests and they will determine if I am available for a "capture" (they send me a brand new one with rush delivery and I send mine back). We run the 3 minute and 1 hour Apple hardware test. Both come back saying there are no hardware problems. I qualify BUT now I have to take a picture or movie of the flicker/black-out occurring AND run "Apple Capture" while it occurs and email both to him before we can arrange the swap.

This sounded like no big deal but here I am, 7 hours in with no flicker. I don't have time for this nor do I feel I if I should have to prove my issue. Not to mention why would I want to go thru all this if there wasn't an issue.

So has anyone else had this experience with a senior level advisor. Will this be their new standard in dealing with this problem.


P.S. = He told me to run a bunch of graphically intensive programs to "cause" the issue. Which is curious considering everyone in this thread agrees that its random.

Flicker is back, after one day without. Typical occasional flicker, in addition to momentary screen blackouts. Top of imac is running VERY hot. I let the computer run all night (idle) and top of display was cool to the touch this morning. Now copying files, and running hot and flicker is back.

Note: I do have external speakers attached via the headphone input; no crackling sound but I am going to see how long it takes for the flicker to worsen and crackling sound to reappear possibly? I am not using the speakers, but they are attached and powered on.

I am deciding to take a break from deciding how to proceed (repair, replacement) since it is obviously going to be a battle and I don't have the patience to deal with it, after so much frustration yesterday. I am just going to hope and trust that Apple WILL take care of me when the situation is clearer on how they will proceed with all of us that have problems. I am just not willing to send in my machine for "repair"; who knows how long I would be without a computer and I am not a gambler by nature (crapshoot on whether a replacement/repair will, in fact, work).

The Flicker comes and goes. My Flicker started 5 days after I used mine. It had Yellow Tinge from Day One. 21.5 NVidia Week 45. Flicker happened to me after it was on & warmed up for like 10 hours or more. There is really no telling when it will happen. It's intermittent.

Just sent mine out for exchange. First time since I got it on Dec 25th. So I waited hoping I would get a Replacement from a good batch. I'm not very optimistic, but I had the option to exchange from Store I bought it from & I paid $160. less because it was Black Friday. If I get a Refund & buy again, I'll have to fork over another $160. That would stink!

has anyone emailed the steve jobs email?? otherwise they wont be here at all, maybe if we got a list of loads of people agreeing to be here and emailed them the link theyd take it a bit more seriously!!

as it stands the moderators arent going to tell them.

week 45, still no flickering! maybe i got a good'un???

Thank you sparkie 1984,

let 's organize something together. Everyone in this thread can help.
Thank you all.

I’ve followed all of these threads from the start, and I tend to agree with the LCD/Cable hypothesis. But then I do wonder why they issued the firmware update if it’s a hardware issue. Maybe they found something that could have aggravated the issue instead of causing it and decided to fix that.

I’ve yet to install the firmware update in my 27” week 49 i7 machine, since there have been reports of machines that work great before installing the firmware that started to act up after installing the it. I was hoping for more evidence that they got to the root cause before I install the update.

My iMac been working great so far with no flickering or yellow bars. I ran the display tests mentioned in on of the postings, and everything looked great except for a few stuck pixels. And the only time that the fan ran at 1600-1900 rpm of so was during importing a bunch of home movie files into iMovie, otherwise it runs around 1000 rpm or so.

I told the person I spoke to that I wanted a refund because people getting replacements were having the same issues. They claimed that only about 1% of the machines sold have this issue. I find that very hard to believe when every single person in this thread who got a replacement had the same issues.

Patrick, this is a very old debate on this thread. Some people Claim it's a small amount. And people like myself, think it's a much larger amount of defects. More in the 30% range. I just guesstamated that since people are getting up to 5 defective inits in a row from all over the globe. I cannot see how people on here could be so unlucky if were a small amount of defects People on here have even done the Math & say it's like 1%. Either way, I am waiting for my exchange the end of this month. And I'm hoping the defect ratio is low & I get a good one. This has been quite an ordeal. You got a refund. So just wait until this all boils over & we get the same Apple Products we all know & love. Keep checking back here.

Yes Paris, you are correct. No one knows really how many iMacs are affected.

There are things we do know, and things that can be estimated.

We do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that at minimum, Apple has produced and sold hundreds of thousands of these machines, and most likely, that number extends into the millions. Apples sales increased 74% over the last holiday season. In the quarter prior to the release of the 27" models, Apple sold 3.5 million machines. Those numbers are cast in stone, and beyond debate.

Another thing we do know beyond a shadow of a doubt. People with a problem complain more, and are far more vocal than those who are content. Would anyone ever even try to debate that point? This forum is the dominant place on the web dealing with this issue, and there are currently only a handful of posters who are still dealing with this issue, not even hundreds, just a handful. If there were thousands affected, certainly there would be hundreds still posting here. There aren't.

Even if the number of defective units was in the thousands, it is still a minor percentage of total units produced. 1% is an acceptable failure rate for most corps. They all expect a certain number of failures, especially when they are using components produced by other corps who also maintain that 1% failure rate as acceptable.

Another thing we know beyond a shadow of a doubt. The net is quiet. Even the websites and blogs that traditionally attack everything Mac are quiet. Even though there was an initial outburst of attacks on Apple for releasing "defective" machines, it is no longer an issue. Some have suggested that Apple may be buying silence from these sites, which, I guess is possible, but I haven't put on my tin foil hat in quite a while.
It would be far cheaper for Apple just to pay off those on this forum who are still complaining about defective machines, since there are only a dozen or two left.

So, given these factors, and many more, it still remains pretty obvious that it is a very small percentage of machines that are affected.