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

Add me to the flicker list.

Machine has been perfect for the 2-3 weeks that i have had it but now randomly gets a fuzzy white bar across the top, or the screen flicks off and on.
It seems to do it when im running VMware, watching Youtube or anything flash/java. Changing the resolution helps, or rebooting.

I bought it from a reseller so i guess ill just have to wait until a fix comes out.

Just to update any new readers on the quick fix for the flickering/blackout problem, the easiest and fastest way to stop the problem is to put your DISPLAY to sleep *(shift-option-disk eject button)* and then wake it up again (any mouse or key). This should stop the flickering until next time...at least, this works for me. No need to reboot or even put the hard drive to sleep.

That's exactly what used to cure mine (see earlier post) .... it would start after a couple of hours. Put it to sleep for a few seconds or so, and then it would go for another couple of hours. Very strange.

Dino, that is right, a total of 3.33 million Macintosh computers. I did further investigation and found out that of the 3.33 million, a little over 2 millions were the new 27 inch iMac. The iMac because of its big hi rez monitor, its huge hard drive and last not least its beautiful industrial design is selling like hot cakes world wide. I myself have been all my life a PC guy and if it was not iMac 27 inch, I would never switch. So you are right that brings the percentage of faulty iMacs to 00.07%. Still not bad at all. Anybody who has dealt with PCs would appreciate this number, then in the PC world we are talking about 20% faulty units or dead at arrival. Now if one is lucky and belongs to those 80%, then within a few months is attacked by viruses, the kind that not even "virus protection" can stop them.

I'm still not fully convinced this problem isn't more widespread. I'm positive that most people simply don't notice or don't care to notice enough that it's a problem. This majority of people are living with a flicker here or there or a slight yellow tinge without the discerning eye or bother to really do something about it. I'd say the number of faulty iMacs is higher.

I agree with Kevin7apple... I bought my 27" iMac for christmas and i've seen some random flickering...but nothing very serious...so i was patiently waiting for some fix and kept working on my MPB... until last week...
Now its VERY serious...my screen constantly flickers....black's out.....and the stupid dock goes to the top of the screen.....or the middle..... it's ridiculous....i'd never expect this from Apple...
I have all of this documented on video and i'll be posting it tomorrow....

I'm in Portugal and bought it here....and tomorrow i'll also contact Apple here to see what they have to say...

One thing i've noticed is that it gets worst if there is no, or litle, activity on the computer....most of the videos i've seen posted on the net are also with one aplication open but doing nothing...
I think the problem is less severe if you push iMac and specially if the graphics processor to do some work... I've read somewhere that maybe Apple's update downclocked the GPU to "avoid" the problem, and i did some tests using aperture, and Final Cut, measured some temps and i'm starting to believe the firmware update was only a lame try to fool us....
Can someone give me some thoughts about this?

thx

Sundisk, The numbers you quote can only be believed if they are supported by facts and references. You say you did "further investigation" so please tell us where you get the figure of "a little over 2 million" 27 inch iMacs sold. To calculate the percentage of faulty iMacs you need to know the number of faulty iMacs. Where did you get that information? Also, your unsupported claim of 20% faulty/DOA PCs is hard to believe. Given the many thousands of companies selling PCs around the world, I cannot see how anyone could know this. If you have evidence please tell us. Over many years, I have been involved in the purchase of hundreds of PCs for large and small corporations and my first-hand experience of the fault rate on delivery was way below what you quote. If you cannot support your figures with valid reference sources there's little point in sharing them.

Update: Got my exchange just 2 hours ago. I'm not connecting anything to it. It's in Living Room, not in my Office. Just Power Cable in the wall.
It's a Week 51 (old one was 45)
The outside box from B&H looked damaged. UPS guy reported it.
The White Box is stuck in another tight fitting Brown Box. It was so tight, it won't come out.
At bootup I heard the Hard Drive ever so low. This HD is a Hitachi. The last one Was a Seagate. Seagate was completely Silent, no matter what I was doing. But again, you have to really listen to hear this Hard Drive.
So far, No Screen Noise, No Yellow, & No Flicker. No Dead Pixels on Screen or iSight.
I Performed all the tests.
Put a DVD in & it did not Scratch the Disc.
Used a USB Port for my Thumb Drive, fit perfectly.
It's going to be hard for me to not hook up to my External Hard Drives & Peripherals, but I feel this is the best way to test this iMac out.
I left default Energy Settings.
So far so good.
I will post every couple of days, to keep all my friends informed on my progress or issues.
I wish everyone on here Good Luck.

Okay, after three rounds of resetting PRAM (which would clear the flickering for about 5-7 days), I finally got the video card and video cable replaced today. The repair shop (MacAuthority, Nashville) expressed confidence that this would solve the issue (mine wasn't the first). I will monitor the monitor and hopefully report back happy news at a later date.

angelswings wrote:
Sundisk, The numbers you quote can only be believed if they are supported by facts and references. You say you did "further investigation" so please tell us where you get the figure of "a little over 2 million" 27 inch iMacs sold. To calculate the percentage of faulty iMacs you need to know the number of faulty iMacs. Where did you get that information? Also, your unsupported claim of 20% faulty/DOA PCs is hard to believe. Given the many thousands of companies selling PCs around the world, I cannot see how anyone could know this. If you have evidence please tell us. Over many years, I have been involved in the purchase of hundreds of PCs for large and small corporations and my first-hand experience of the fault rate on delivery was way below what you quote. If you cannot support your figures with valid reference sources there's little point in sharing them.

sundisk is a user account created just yesterday, and has posted only twice, both with absurd sales claims / failure rate claims. Apple sold only 1.2 million desktop Macs (of all kinds) last quarter. Let's not feed the troll.

Dino! Nice man! It seems like you got a good one. Funny, sitting in my house at ten thirty at night wondering...hey! Wonder if Dino got a good imac. Pumped for you man. Hope mine is good as well when I get it.

rickstervt, Thanks Man! Yea so far so good. The beat up box scared me. A lot of stress over all this. I don't know what I would have done without this thread. At least t made me feel like I wasn't alone. I'm not out of the woods yet my friend. My other one started flickering after 5 days. Good Luck to us All!

Dickey Iona wrote:
I've been coming to this forum a few times a week since early December. I've been wanting to buy an i7 to replace my crappy little ibookG4, and I'm anxiously waiting for this problem to be solved. I don't have a lot of money and I can't afford to purchase a $2000 that may end up being faulty. I understand that it's a small percentage of machines being affected, but I had several problems with the logic board on my ibook G4, and don't want to make the mistake of buying a first round product again.

Like most consumers, I do a lot of research before buying an expensive product. I'm sure there are many people like myself out there who are reading up on these forums and are holding off on making a purchase until the problem is solved.

I hope the people who have faulty machines have their problems resolved. After reading about all the misery a lot of you have went through, I truly sympathize with you and feel your pain!

I also have been coming to the forum a few times a week watching this unfold since November. At the time my G5 hard drive crashed and thought its a good time to upgrade to the iMac 27inch. The guys at the store highly recommended that I get apple care. He said they are relatively new and was not sure how the system was going to stay cool with the quad core processor. He said even though its apple something new can have a few problems.

So right he was. But its getting to the point I really need to get one now. I got some video editing project I need to do for a family member. There son at the age of 21 passed away on Xmas eve. They asked if I can put a video together for them. I have done stuff in the past with my current mac but its too slow now and using the i7 at the store just makes video editing a breeze. Especially when running final cut pro.

I really wish apple would get there act together on this. I find it very disappointing the lack of communication they are having on this problem. I just wish they would come out, admit they have a problem and that they are trying to resolve it. If they don't admit they have a problem how can anyone such as myself who is watching this be confident that the problem is fixed. If they have admitted to a problem then they are enable to announce that they have rectified the issue.

Isn't it a common practice that when people have a problem (such as drug addition or alcohol..etc..) the first step is to admit you have a problem. Then you can move on to resolve this problem!!

People such as myself are still going to be sitting here as we do hearing that apple has solved the problem from people's posts only to find out a short time later the same people are still having the same issue with there fixed/replaced machine. I would feel more confident hearing it from apple themselves that the problem is sorted!!

Come on apple. Step up to the plate, grow some balls admit there is a problem and sort the issue out!!

Dino1956 - Don't let us down. We're all pulling for you. Not sure the thread will be the same if you turn into a happy Apple customer. =) Enjoy your iMac.
I'm sure it's going to be perfect.

Slippers, I must have posted 200 posts on this thread. Jeeez! Even if my iMac is perfect, I want to find out what is going on, so U won't be rid of me.