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

So should just not pick up the imac next week but wait until they say the problem is solved?

Yes, that's what I'm doing with my order.

The situation is a little bit chaotic at the moment. Some reps say the problem is solved, but nobody understood until now what's the fix. We're still waiting in a kind of darkroom.

thanks for the welcome...

AHHH... well i need that maschine! I don t want to wait no more.
I see what you mean when you say i should wait until the three weeks have passed..

But i made a deal with the shop i bougth it at... i will get another 2 weeks money back waranty. So I still can decide, after i have the new maschine, if i keep it or get my money back, within 2 weeks.

Do you think thats a way to go?

Yeah znerol, it's a good deal. Fingers crossed for your new iMac and stay tuned!

Well it sounds like a Win Win situation, so if you don't mind taking the chance of being inconvenienced, then Go For It! I could have got a Refund from my Retailer but I figured I'd take at least One Exchange chance, figuring just maybe I'm not THAT unlucky. Wishful Thinking at this point, I know. But you have nothing to lose & maybe you'll get a perfect iMac. I hope you do! Good Luck!

Hi Guys, just had another interesting development with my flickering 27" iMac..

I'm currently still using it 'til the courier calls me to arrange a pick-up time/date
(prior to Apple sending me a replacement model in mid-Feb..).

You know when the screen brightness dims after 5 minutes or so of inactivity??
Well, mine just got stuck in dimmed mode!
Clicking on the mouse or keyboard wouldn't wake it up.
I tried sending the Mac to sleep - but nothing happened.

Eventually I had to do a full restart it to get it back to full brightness...

Hmmmm.....!!!

Boy, I'll be glad when we all get our fully working machines and all of this is behind us!!

Has anyone else experienced this??

The new models are well worth a little inconvenience.

As far as the conflicting reports go, all reports should be taken with a grain of salt. If they do not come directly from Apple, in a public announcement, then all of these reports are basically meaningless.

Apple is not likely to make a public statement on the issue.

When we hear of statements made by the "reps", there are several things we all should consider.

There is always the possibility of a misunderstanding between the user and the rep, and what the user may be stating here may not be what the rep intended.

If the rep is from a reseller, then he most likely does not have any more influential contact with Apple than any of the users on this forum, so his comments should be taken very lightly, as should all of the comments on this forum.

Some reps will say just about anything to appease an unreasonable user. Particularly true in the case of the resellers reps.

Never forget the troll factor. There are several on this forum who seem to get a kick out of simply confusing the issue.

The bottom line is, any statement not issued by Apple itself should be taken very lightly. If a rep makes a particularly bold statement, or claims of a fix, delay, solution, or any other matter, ask them to send you an email confirming it.

Then post the statement here, complete with the reps name, and e address, so that we may all be as well informed.

NULCGI wrote:

NULCGI wrote:
I am happy to report... that the 27" iMac (C2D) received today (W8953) and has passed all initial testing and inspection - with flying colours. (its Rock-solid)

No flicker, no yellow tinge, no dead pixels, or any other screen problem..... nothing but a perfect Mac. (mind you, the screen calibration was way-off - but that was easily re-adjusted)

I trust this will remain the case.... and for years to come.

Hope all you guys with ongoing & unresolved problems, can get things fixed - real soon.

Just an update note to advise this 27" iMac continues to behave very well - no evidence of any Screen problems whatsoever.... so, after 4-5 days of solid use, I think I can say - I got a good one.

I received a new mini display adapter from Apple Store this morning and so have my second monitor operational (23" HD Cinema Display) for my extended desktop.

No problems - its rock solid !!

Cheers

Just a final entry to this topic .... to update advise all those interested - this Machine continues to run flawlessly

Hey Guys & Gals,
Received my (the family's) refurbished base model 27" C2D yesterday. Shipped from "AI" (Apple Inc. ??) in Elk Grove, CA. Serial# shows "YD952..." and Model# is "RB952..." -- most likely indicating week of refurbishment as "52" (kind of hard for it to be an original manufacture of week 52 and have made it into my hands yesterday).
Started it up today at 1400 hours. Have not connected to the internet. Set it to randomly cycle through the nature wallpapers so I can observe any problems. So far... no tinge, no dead/stuck pixels on display or iSight camera, no flickerings/blackouts. Will report back in a week or sooner if anything develops.
I think I may have gotten Steve's demo model, after he played with it a couple of months!!!

R.K. Miller

Ady-baby,
Yes, I have also experienced the "half-dimming," and sometimes intermediate "brightening" (with an audible CLICK noise) that makes the display a bluer hue. Same fix as the flickering; put display to sleep, then wake, and it 's back to normal for me. But yes, more issues here than just the simple flickering/blackouts.

Been waiting until I hear about a real fix before I go for replacement - but my 'jumpiness' is less than a lot of folks seem to be saying...

I've just had an email with a Credit Invoice, stating that my money has been refunded ! ... no other email with any explanation. I'm still showing as despatch Feb 1, so looks like another call to Apple today.

I thought I would weigh in on this. I purchased my first 27" IMac on 1/16 and the flicker, as described by so many here, started to occur on Friday. After checking online I discovered this forum and decided to take it in today to the Apple Store where I purchsed it.

Of course it didn't act up in front of the Geniuses but they did replace the unit for me, with no restocking fee. I got the new unit home and started to flicker on the first bootup. After it went to sleep and I woke it up, it hasn't flickered since.

As a new Mac customer, I am unnerved by the problem, the lack of definitve resolution and the thought of lugging this heavy thing back to the store again and possibly again.

Some observation that may be relevant/irrelevant. I used the first IMac on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but not Thursday. When I used it Friday, the flicker was seen for the first and only time. I wondered, at the time, if it was a coincidence or that the iMac might have been "colder" on Friday's bootup. This theory was mentioned by someone else earlier in the behemouth forum thread. The new iMac, after it started to flicker, was unplugged from the power strip and plugged into the wall (another early theory) with no flicker since. We all know that it is way too early to draw any conclusiont.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

I just bought a iMac i5 27 inch today from Nebraska Furniture Mart in Kansas City, Mo. It's already flickering. I don't understand why they are still selling these things when there are so many issues. I'm going to take my back tomorrow. Since I began this email my screen has flickered black twice

Hi Guys, just a quickie: just had a call from my courier to say they will collect my flickering iMac this afternoon.
Amazingly it's been flicker-free for nearly a week now........ but just started flickering again this morning! So. with one day left of my 14 day refund replacement period, I'm reassured I made the right decision. ;o)

Can anyone quickly advise me on how I do a clean install using the install DVD provided?
Basically I want to wipe everything and send them back the machine as it arrived...
Does the install DVD provided wipe the hard drive? Or just reinstall Snow Leopard (and leave the other files intact)?

Thanks for your help (in advance)...

So I've been reading this forum over the past couple of days because, as you might have guessed, I have also been affected by the now infamous screen flicker. I bought my 27" Mac on Monday, Jan 18th. It's a 2010 Core 2, week 3 production (totally possible because it was made in California and I bought it in CA). By Tuesday evening I was experiencing the plague. At first it was a tiny flicker so I barely noticed it. I thought perhaps I was running too many programs. I'm a new Mac user and thought I'd "stress it out" a little even though I always heard good things about the abilities of a Mac. Well the flicker occurred even after I closed down the programs I was running. I knew I had a problem but didn't get a chance to research it until Wednesday evening. Then when I was at work on Thursday, my wife noticed it as well but she also experienced the "jumping" of the dock. She freaked out to say the least. After my research I decided that, as many have found out, it was not an isolated incident and that fixing it was going to be a problem. I went ahead and did the troubleshooting that I know Apple would make me do just so that I could say that I did. The flickering hasn't happened again but it's only been a few hours. I know it will be back. So here's the question I have for many of you. Being that there is the rumor going around that there is a "fix" that is going to be released around the 4th of Feb, what should I do about it? I'm definitely going to make the problem known to Apple so there is record of it. But my problem is the same as a lot of other people...I could return it to where I bought it from (Best Buy) and request a replacement since they have a 14 day return policy, but I run the risk of getting another lemon like so many other people. Do I just try and work it out through apple and push for them to handle it? I'm at a crossroads because of this rumor of a fix. So I ask for the opinion of you folks. I know I'll probably get 20 different answers just like I'd get 20 different answers from Apple's Support Techs, but hey why not try right? Anyways, thank you ahead of time for your input and I look forward to seeing this problem resolved, just like everyone else.

- Rocket