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

Thanks for the reply. I hate to buy now but my 6 year old powerbook is really getting slow. Like everyone here I was hoping for a real solution weeks ago.

tallturtle wrote:
One more thing. Looking at my System Profiler I get the usual information on the Graphics Card and the display as follows:

"ATI Radeon HD 4850:

Synchronisierung: Aus

What means "Synchronization: Off" (fourth row from the bottom).

It is not really synchronization in the sense of the timing of signals for example. In English, it is "Mirror: off" meaning that you do not have the "Mirror" setting turned on in System Preferences/Display. The mirror of course would allow a second monitor connected via the iMac's mini-Displayport to see the identical content as the main iMac display.

There are other great mac computers you can choose. Just avoid iMac for now.

Jon Abbott wrote:

Scooby71 wrote:
I find it funny and a bit ironic that I decided to convert from PC to Apple due to reliability issues and now I find myself having to make this decision again.....

Same here, and I "switched" ten years ago. Now I don't know what to do. I politely asked Applecare three times who I needed to complain to about the experience I had with exchanging my iMac (see my previous post about it here). I finally received a case number affiliated with Customer Relations. I called, explained the situation, and mentioned that this experience has made me question my long-standing commitment to Apple as a brand. I was told that my complaint will be read at the executive level. I recommend that any of you who are extremely dissatisfied with your experience contact Apple and ask to file a formal complaint with Customer Relations. As always, be polite - your bad experience isn't the fault of the person you'll be speaking with.

Regarding my replacement iMac i7 which I've had for three days, it has an intermittent backlight wavering issue. Occasionally the backlight wavers as if I adjusted the brightness up and down by a few notches, but in very rapid succession. It happens randomly and only for a second (compared to the flickering on my previous model which would keep happening until a reboot). The intake fan near the bottom is more noisy. The screen had a fingerprint on it when I removed the protective cover. The iSight camera has four dead pixels. The main display itself has one dead pixel. The speakers occasionally sound tinny for some reason. I could go on.

I have a new business idea for Apple. Sell a "perfection model" for a little extra fee. It would be thoroughly examined before it leaves the factory to be absolutely free of any defects. If they had this sort of program, and we all opted for it, odds are none of us here would have received a bad iMac (or two, or three). I know that my time is worth more to me than how long it takes to lug an iMac back to the Apple Store.

Color tinge may be a common issue among many IPS LCD panels, including high end standalone monitors from Dell, HP, etc. The severity varies panel by panel. I've heard people kept on returning bad ones until getting it right. For a particular Dell model, people can no longer make a return just because of the color tinge.

It may be a common issue but when you advertise a Screen as "The Ultimate Display", then it is unacceptable IMO. And I've seen iMacs with perfect Displays. They exist. And they are simply outstanding. And lastly, I want One!

Hello again everyone,

WARNING: I tend to get long-winded here, so unless you are familiar with my previous posts in this thread, like them, and can deal with reading a lot, you may want to pass by this message. See...I'm nice...I warned you.

Well, after waiting for ten long weeks -- minus one day -- the "day of truth" has finally come and gone, and I would like to share an initial report -- and my personal impressions -- with everyone regarding my new 2.8 GHz Quad Core i7 with 8 GB of RAM and the Hitachi 2 TB hard drive.

The unit was delivered to my home yesterday afternoon around 4:30 PM. It is a week 51 unit. It was not delivered to me in the original brown shipping box, but rather just in the Apple box. The exterior of the Apple box was fine, other than a small nick that was located in the lower left-hand area on the front.

To clarify, prior to delivery, I gave my AAR permission to unbox the unit in order to physically inspect it, as well as to go through the checklist of items that I posted earlier in this thread, which they did.

After spending several hours deciding how to rearrange my desktop in order to make room for this behemoth, I finally turned on the machine at about 7:00 PM.

I decided from the start that I am not going to load up the new iMac with all of my programs until I am relatively certain that I have a non-defective machine; and that means waiting at least a few weeks.

So, for now, I've just installed a few basic things like Perian, VLC, Vox, ClamXav, Isolator, Shortcuts, iStat Pro, etc., so that I can begin to enjoy the machine for what it is really designed for: audio and video. In fact, I wasn't even going to connect an ethernet cable until I realized that I had no choice since I had to access some files on our other LAN machines.

In short, for the time being, I am going to continue using my 733 MHz G4 mini-tower for my usual daily activities like web surfing, writing email, downloading files, etc. I mainly got the iMac in order to improve my entertainment experiences, and also because these G4's are now 9-10 years old, and nearing the end of their "lives".

My AAR had informed me that there were some dead pixels, but after examining the unit for myself, I've decided that I can live with it. The screen itself has 2.5 dead pixels. That means that two of them are very dark -- and thus very obvious -- while the third is much lighter in color, and may possibly be stuck, and not truly dead. I ran the "Fix Dead Pixels" video on one of the dead ones for about six hours, but it was to no avail. But, because the dead pixels are located on the right third of the screen, and not dead center, it is bearable. Due to the desktop background, the only time that I may really notice them is when I place a white text document in that area of the screen.

On the other hand, the iSight camera has seven stuck or dead pixels. Considering that I will probably rarely ever use the iSight, while seven pixels might not be acceptable to other folks, I am willing to accept it. Besides, it is my understanding that 9.5 stuck or dead pixels is not enough to warrant an exchange, replacement or refund in Apple's view, although we have read of some exchange successes in this thread, with less dead pixels.

One other comment about the iSight camera: I immediately noticed that the image is considerably brighter -- and clearer -- than the one on our 24" iMac, even with the ceiling light off.

I next checked for the yellow tinge problem using the online test, as well as a copy of the yellow tinge test HTML file that I have here. If there is a yellow tinge, I haven't noticed it, and it must be very negligible -- or simply non-existent. As paranoid as some of us have become here, I think if we stare long and hard enough at our screens, we just might imagine that it is there.

Obviously, it is way too early to determine if the flickering or screen tearing problems exist on this machine, but for now, the machine has been running for 20 hours now without the problems manifesting themselves -- but I have rebooted it a few times while installing some things.

Overall, I am very impressed with this machine...but who wouldn't be after using 10-year-old 400 MHz, 500 MHz and 733 MHz G4's for years now?

Also, the sound quality of the speakers is very nice, and I may just forego plugging in my external speakers.

Temperature-wise, everything -- fans, HD, CPU, GPU, etc., have remained below 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Here they are:

Hard Drive: 137
CPU: 133
Ambient: 77
GPU Diode: 144
GPU Heatsink: 140
Mem Controller: 135
Optical Drive: 122
Power Supply 2: 149

Of course, they keep fluctuating continuously.

Fan speeds are currently:

Optical Drive: 998 rpm (nothing running in the drive)
Hard Drive: 1299 rpm (currently no heavy reading or writing)
CPU Fan: 940 rpm

Right now I am listening to Bear McCreary's BSG soundtracks in high quality FLAC format, which reside on an external Iomega 1 TB eGo drive. I am using Vox. It is small, not bloated, and serves me well.

My biggest complaint at this time would be that I cannot use SoundSource with this machine to switch between internal speakers and my Logitech headset. If I connect the headset to the headset port, the headset is the only thing that shows in SoundSource's audio options. In short, I have to manually plug in and unplug the headset whenever I want to use the internal speakers. This was not the case with my G4 running Tiger. I would plug the headset into the jack on one of the speakers, and SoundSource worked fine, as I recall.

One thing is for certain; this machine is very bright; and due to my poor eyesight, it has to be rather close to my face; so I can really feel the heat, and I fear that I may get a sunburn in short order!

Okay...I guess I have gone on long enough, but I wanted to give everyone here enough information so that they can make a comparison with the performance of their own unit.

I am of course hoping for the best, but I am still apprehensive about a potential disappoint if the flickering and blackouts should start.

I will continue to read here, and will keep everyone posted periodically, until I feel I am in the safe zone...whenever that is.

Good luck Warren.

I don't know that I would tolerate the dead pixels. There have been several posters here who have stated that Apple did give them a replacement for dead pixels, one unit had a single dead pixel in the upper right corner, the same user had a second machine with two dead pixels.

I know that it's being picky, but why not. If Apple will exchange it, why not go for perfection. A few dead pixels is expected, even tolerated and ignored by most manufacturers, but Apple has never been like the others.

GLL92 wrote:
There are other great mac computers you can choose. Just avoid iMac for now.

The topic of my complaint to Apple was not with the iMac, but with their exchange process. It was very inconsistent and unprofessionally handled... definitely not what I would call the "Apple experience".

I posted earlier that I had spoken to an Apple Rep while arranging the replacement for my i7.

The rep stated that they were still showing deliveries within 7 to 10 business days, and had not heard of any shipping delays.

A short time ago, I received the order #, and when I went to check it out, it shows not yet shipped, expected delivery February 11th. Unless there's a holiday that I'm not aware of, that's actually 14 business days, and if they stick to it, it's not really much of a delay.

Sorry guys and girls to "disappoint" you all, but my week 47 i7 iMac received in mid November is still going strong
BTW; I bet it is the same for the other few million of "Late 2009" iMac users.

pazuita wrote:
Good luck Warren.

I don't know that I would tolerate the dead pixels. There have been several posters here who have stated that Apple did give them a replacement for dead pixels, one unit had a single dead pixel in the upper right corner, the same user had a second machine with two dead pixels.

I know that it's being picky, but why not. If Apple will exchange it, why not go for perfection. A few dead pixels is expected, even tolerated and ignored by most manufacturers, but Apple has never been like the others.

Hello Pazuita,

Ironic, isn't it, that I have been championing perfection, and getting our money's worth from Apple, in this thread for some time now, and yet here I now am accepting less than perfection from Apple! Asi es la vida. Such is life.

Let me remind you that I am not dealing directly with Apple here, but rather with an AAR, and their standards and policies are not always exactly the same as Apple's. In fact, upon informing me about the dead pixels, they referred me to Apple's online document regarding their policy concerning dead pixels -- the very same document that I have personally referred a few people to in this same thread. Ha! How is that for additional irony?

Anyway, it was clear to me that the AAR was indirectly making a point that they were not willing to exchange, replace or refund for that number of faulty pixels. Obviously, I could have pushed the issue harder if I wanted to, but there are a few reasons why I didn't.

As I said in my last message, two or three dead pixels off to the side is bearable for me, and with my bad eyesight, I have to look hard to see them anyway. Furthermore, the whole world is not my friend, and is not breaking down my door in order to engage in any kind of online chatting, and so I don't see myself making much use of the iSight camera in the near future.

Also, I waited 2.5 months for this BTO, and I am not prepared to wait another 2.5 months for a replacement BTO.

Finally, you may recall from my earliest messages in this thread that I did manage to squeeze a store credit out of the AAR when I purchased this machine, and they also gave me a 1200W voltage regulator, which I also made a condition of my purchase.

So there's been a little push and shove, and give and take. Need I also mention that they are the only Authorized Apple Repair Service here.

Alas! Pazuita has now been enlightened to my situation.

Oh, there is a casualty in all of this, which I forgot to mention in my previous post.

In order to fit the new iMac on my desk, I had to unplug and move my oldest G4 mini-tower -- which is a 10-year-old 400 MHz unit -- and move it to the end of the desk. I use it to run a BBS, a web server, and some other stuff.

Well, since I reconnected it to my voltage regulator, the G4 has refused to start up. The button light flickers for a second, but that is about it. I have tried the disconnect-the-power-cord trick numerous times, but to no avail.

I have had this problem with these old machines before. They have a mind of their own. It may decide to start up again tomorrow, next week, or in a few weeks or months. Who knows. If not, I will have to use this 733 MHz G4 that I am now typing on to run my BBS and web server.

Warren:

I understand your reasoning completely.

Regarding Apple's policy, do not be too quick to dismiss the 14 day, return period. I strongly suspect that is why they allowed one user to exchange two units for no more than three dead pixels between them. If you change your mind, you always have that to fall back on.

You are gonna need a lot of luck running the i7 with just "the basics" installed. When I got this machine, I intended to do the same for the first few days, barely made it a few hours, just couldn't resist.

Let us know how well you hold up.

pazuita wrote:
Warren:

I understand your reasoning completely.

Regarding Apple's policy, do not be too quick to dismiss the 14 day, return period. I strongly suspect that is why they allowed one user to exchange two units for no more than three dead pixels between them. If you change your mind, you always have that to fall back on.

You are gonna need a lot of luck running the i7 with just "the basics" installed. When I got this machine, I intended to do the same for the first few days, barely made it a few hours, just couldn't resist.

Let us know how well you hold up.

Well, as I said, apparently -- and Apple online documentation even seems to suggest this -- AAR's are not held under the same exact stringent policies when it comes to exchanges, refunds, etc. They basically make their own rules. You probably forgot, but I mentioned early on that the AAR made clear to me that there are no exchanges or refunds with BTO's. Granted, that statement doesn't say anything about defective units. One would think that they are exempt from that policy. Even their store receipts say no exchanges after three days.

But, as I said, unless this machine develops the flicker, screen tears or yellow tinge, I intend to keep it.

I must admit, you gave me a chuckle with that bit about surviving with just the basics installed. Ha! I am already weakening! Firefox has been yelling out to me all day long to put it on the new iMac. I don't use Safari at all. I've tried many of the browsers, and eventually settled for Firefox.

Mind you, if this machine croaks, and I have to remove all of my personal stuff before taking it in, I am personally going to blame you for taunting me. Fair enough?

Warren sings to the tune of Satana's "Black Magic Woman" as his new shiny i7 iMac envelops him in its spell.

Message was edited by: Warren Beasley

Fair enough.

I am easily the most responsible human being on the planet.

All four of my ex wives say I'm responsible for almost everything evil that has happened since Adam made Eve take a bite of the Apple. (See how they all twist the story around).

For me, it was "Witchy Woman", but I can understand how Santana can get to you.

I guess you guys all noticed atlatnesiti bragging again.

Can't say I blame him, I hope to be doing the same thing in a few weeks. I have to listen to that all of the time.

I have a group of friends, about fifty or so in number that are all avid Mac users. Most of them are fairly recent converts after I spent years of hammering them to switch. More than a dozen of them have bought 27"ers in the last couple of months.

After all of the years I have spent bragging to them about Apple quality, and reliability, they switched, and guess what.

They all got good machines, I got two bad ones in a row. I'll never hear the end of it.