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

ugh. it JUST started to happen to mine. Only 3 days in use..........

I find it strange that you are all working on ways to solve this problem when Apple has clearly distributed a *faulty product*. You should be going back to Apple and saying "fix, replace or I want a refund."

I hope Apple fix this, because first of all, I want the 27" i5 I plan to buy in the next few weeks to work and not be faulty, and second, its ruining the reputation of the new iMac. It sounds like a lot of people all around the world are experiencing these serious faults and not going back to the source - Apple!

Message was edited by: thre3dee

The answer to the flicker problem is to return the computer and get your money back. Save yourself a lot of heartache. When the iMac first came out there was a problem and Apple never admitted and there was no recall although mother boards and power supplies were changed without charge. I have two iMacs. The iSight is not working and my changing some of the capacitors on the mother board has not made it operational. So, there is now one iMac working which is the initial model. I had intended to get the quad core 7 but after what seems to be happening to some, I'll wait till next year or till the model is problem free. There will be those who claim that all of you with the flicker problem are a small minority and there are a lot of happy customers out there with the new models but this is exactly what was said when the 1st generation iMac had big problems. RETURN THEM AND GET YOUR MONEY BACK!!!!

it is interesting that I shut off the MAC plugged in into a different outlet in the same room, and the flickering which had redeveloped this evening has seemingly stopped for now. ? inconsistent voltage source from a particular outlet, could this explain why the MAC specialist did not witness my flickering problem. I will update you if the flickering returns. I agree returning/replacing would be best option. Apple needs to take care of this. This is my first MAC. For the price I paid it should be without defects.

According to this forum, where new imac users with this fault are added every day, I canceled my order yesterday. When I was asked why, I explained my fear and told them about this big discussion, they were surprised (they did not even tell me that it is a known mistake),however they canceled my order without any other questions.

Just wanted to update you guys on my situation. I'm waiting for a new one to be shipped on the 1st Dec, but unlike most here, I had it agreed by Apple that I could keep the faulty one until the new one arrives. I arranged this primarily because while the flickering is annoying and obviously a fault, I can still use it to do my work, so it was a nice good-will gesture on Apple's part to afford me this privilege. Anyway, this fact puts me in a slightly unique position in that I get to observe and monitor how the symptoms change, increase/decrease or come and go during prolonged use. I think it might be useful to anyone having these problems who thinks the responsibility to test/check/discover what might be causing it is somehow down to them and haven't yet approached Apple for an exchange or refund, especially if they've been having minor symptoms like I was initially, or even having several days go by where the problem seems to have disappeared. Well, after only experiencing minor, almost imperceptible flashing on the screen initially, and for the last 3 days nothing whatsoever, which was beginning to make me doubt that there even was a problem, today, they come back, and this time, for the first time, my screen actually blacked out for half a second and a bit later, the menu bar made a very brief appearance along the middle of the screen! Now of course I'm not concerned about this, I have a new one on its way, but for those who are still debating whether to return/replace theirs, please take note of my experience and just do what has to be done.

Having returned mine I can now say after a week I have had no problems with the replacement and will continue to monitor the situation. As I have restored from backup I guess it must be a hardware fault as the problem has not surfaced having set this one up just like the previous?

Good luck anyone having problems I'm sure it will get solved one way or the other.

Just an update on my situation that my flickering problem returned after 10 days. I sent an email to my apple tech saying the problem had returned, he immediately told me to return it for replacement. I have been reluctant to do that for several reasons one not being sure of getting another problem machine and not having to go thru the hassell of setting up a new machine. I did use migration assistant.
My problem is very infrequent and is alleviated with a restart, something that I could live with as long as it doesn't worsen.

You mustn't be reluctant. Not returning a faulty unit because of 'hassle setting up a new machine' is, if you'll forgive my candour, really lame. Apple are responsible for providing you with a fully working, non-faulty machine. Don't let them off the hook.

I concur on returning it if there is a problem.

Spent most of Tuesday configuring my new machine. An external drive with a SuperDuper! clone will have you back and running in no time. And SuperDuper! is free. Paid version has a scheduler.

Takes about 1-2 hours to clone the iMac which mine normally does at night. Then reverse the process if you have to replace the Mac. That's my plan.

Also clone my Air before it goes on the road with me. Better to be belt and suspenders than not own any pants.... (err trousers for the UK folks)

jakematics wrote:
And SuperDuper! is free. Paid version has a scheduler.

And Smart Update

jakematics wrote:
I concur on returning it if there is a problem.

Spent most of Tuesday configuring my new machine. An external drive with a SuperDuper! clone will have you back and running in no time. And SuperDuper! is free. Paid version has a scheduler.

Takes about 1-2 hours to clone the iMac which mine normally does at night. Then reverse the process if you have to replace the Mac. That's my plan.

Also clone my Air before it goes on the road with me. Better to be belt and suspenders than not own any pants.... (err trousers for the UK folks)

Naive question...how is SuperDuper different than Time Machine? Can't you just restore from a Time Machine backup (that's what I plan to do once my new iMac arrives)?

Time Machine is an incremental backup after the first full backup.

SuperDuper can be used to make a duplicate copy of the drive. I do that before major upgrades.

You can also boot off the external copy if needed.

I bought my iMac three weeks ago from a local reseller. After around four days, I started experiencing the problems reported time and again in this thread. They lasted for 4-5 days, then disappeared for more than a week, before they came back three days ago.

When I told the reseller, they had never heard of this before, and I was not offered an exchange, but told to bring my computer in for testing, which I did yesterday.

Leaving aside the fact that a 27" iMac is a major hassle to haul around town when you don't have a car (and I'll be damned if I'm spending large amounts of money on taxi fares because of a faulty product), I'm not happy about having to give up my brand new computer for up to two weeks (or even more, who knows) after having owned it for only three. When you spend this kind of money on something, it's reasonable to expect it to be working perfectly out of the box, isn't it?

Not a great first Mac experience, in other words, but I'm hopeful that it will eventually be resolved somehow, because I am absolutely in love with the thing.

I received my new 27" last night and it was doing the same thing. The horizontal bar, and the screen going black for a second.