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

I suppose I should have pointed out that I have never even considered buying from an authorized seller, because of my fear of finding myself in your situation. I ordered from the Apple website, and to be blunt was not too nice to the apple care rep who took my original call mostly because, like the genius bar guy, he claimed he had never heard of a 27" iMac flickering. Thats when I took the video and made the appointment with the genius bar.

However when I called applecare with the repair number she told me these machines were on "capture" which was "issued today".

Can you explain what "On Capture" means ? Thank you!

On Capture is kinda like a silent recall. If they get one back they keep it and you have to wait for a new one.

i thinks...

Ok I see! A secretive recall, so the rest of the world doesn't have to know they screwed up.

Not Zura wrote:
On Capture is kinda like a silent recall. If they get one back they keep it and you have to wait for a new one.

i thinks...

I'm definitely not waiting for a replacement. But I think "silent recall" is a good way to describe it. She said they are very interested in the issue and explained that it will be shipped to an engineering department as though in other situations they will be sent somewhere else.

I returned my week 52 27" iMac a couple weeks ago due to the yellow-tinge. I received my replacement, week 03, this Monday and on Wednesday it appeared to flicker for a quick moment. Now as I'm typing I'm seeing very slight flickers. Also, there still is slight yellowing on the screen and appears to be getting worse. I'm slightly disappointed since this is my first iMac after switching from a PC, but I will not give up until I receive a perfect one.

Edit: both of my units were made in California

Message was edited by: downtown56

Not Zura wrote:
I concur.

Apple, please put an end to this thread with an official statement saying that *ALL of the iMacs that will begin shipping will be 100%*.

Not Zura,

Apple will never say that!
But they could announce that they have found the problem and fixed it.
That would be nice!

At least we would know that we can buy or exchange or send in for repair safely!

Dino......Glad to see that you are finally coming around. Yes, the percentages are very small.


I am pretty sure the capture refers to that individual unit, not all of the i7's. Apple does seem to still have a problem with defective units still in circulation, particularly among the resellers, even though their numbers are small.

Last time I talked to the rep, I asked him about the defect rate on the new models, he quoted a rate of .000something.

Personally, i feel it is just a little higher than that, but not much.

As I have stated before, I have over a dozen friends who have all purchased 27"ers, in the last couple of months, I am the only one that has a defective machine.

All of the others are absolutely perfect, not a single dead pixel among them. One does think that he has a slight yellow tinge on the lower LH corner of his screen, no one else notices it, and he has previously been diagnosed, as OCD, bipolar, and slightly Schizo.

downtown56 wrote:
I returned my week 52 27" iMac a couple weeks ago due to the yellow-tinge. I received my replacement, week 03, this Monday and on Wednesday it appeared to flicker for a quick moment. Now as I'm typing I'm seeing very slight flickers. Also, there still is slight yellowing on the screen and appears to be getting worse. I'm slightly disappointed since this is my first iMac after switching from a PC, but I will not give up until I receive a perfect one.

Edit: both of my units were made in California

Message was edited by: downtown56

Edit: both of my units were made in California?

Aren't they all made in China?

It just ***** that the same people on here wind up with more than one defective unit. I think this thread would have been 10 pages, had the same 20 people not received 2 or 3 exchanges in a row that were defective.

There is a post from User Industralspace on Macrumors, claiming he spoke to a rep about Yellow tinge today & the reply was:

I've spoken to an Apple sales person over the phone and was told that the yellow tint had to do with a bad batch of defective screens from the manufacturer. Something about the "chemicals" being used in the screens were bad. States that all new iMacs being shipped will be defect-free.

So...

1) Apple is aware of the problem

2) Apple has found a solution to the problem

3) Apple claims that the new shipments will be yellow-tint free

As far as the delays go, he wouldn't exactly say why, other than its a very popular model. I imagine that the retooling plays a part in the delay.

Hopefully, we'll start hearing reports of the new iMacs being defect-free. Be sure to post if you get a good or bad screen over the next several weeks.

According to http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html , when I put in my serial number which starts with QP003, it says:

Serial number: QP003...
Name: iMac Intel (mid 2009)
Group1: iMac
Group2: Intel
Generation: 7
ModelCode: imacmid09
CPU speed: 3.06GHz
Screen size: 27 inch
Memory - number of slots: 4
*Factory: QP (USA)*
External link: Technical specifications by apple-history.com
Model introduced: 2009
Production year: 2010
Production week: 03 (January)
Production number: 724 (within this week)

Also, the origin from FedEx stated California.

Message was edited by: downtown56

Message was edited by: downtown56

pazuita wrote:

Last time I talked to the rep, I asked him about the defect rate on the new models, he quoted a rate of .000something.

Personally, i feel it is just a little higher than that, but not much.

How do you explain that to all the people here, who had 3 defective machines in a row? This is for me so contradicting and for sure for all of us. How can you be so unlucky, when the rate is .000something? For me this is the most crucial question in this thread. We discussed it now every day, but what is the fact? Have we some people here joking on us? What is here going on?

Hope that's the case, as I'm waiting for my replacement i7 to be shipped, although the timings I have been given so far are 'expected shipping Feb 1st - expected delivery Feb 5th'

I'll certainly be checking it thoroughly when it does arrive.

I guess if my 3.06GZ 27 had a yellow tint, I would care about it, but it doesn't. The title of the thread is about flickering and shutoffs which mine has. It is a China build, 2009 week 45.

Called Apple just before Christmas and they said to apply the firmware update which I did Jan 1. It still flickers and blacks out.

I'm waiting to see if it looks like they have things fixed before I call and tell them to send me a new one.

I've posted a couple times here. My last update my apple care rep said not to take in for repair and that she would not give a new one because I probably would get another yellow screen and to wait a month and then call back. I e- mailed the jobs accout after stewing for a couple days not expecting to hear back from anyone and surprise! Someone called and told me they would send me a new one. I upgraded to the i7. Very very nice woman. She said they were very aware and they wanted to capture my computer. I get to keep my old one til the new one comes. She said it would be awhile. She said it's still an ongoing investigation. I asked should I wait until it gets fixed and she said that they were going through the computers and only sending out good ones. So I opted to order now since it's seems it will be a few weeks anyway. Excited I'm getting the i7 seven now.