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

@ bluebermuda-

I haven't owned that many Apple products (three iPods, an early '09 base 24" iMac, and a mid '09 15" MacBook Pro), but every one of those products has been flawless. After my first bad 27" i7, I'm willing to give Apple one shot to make things right, but if my replacement has any of the problems I've heard about lately (dead pixels, yellow tint, dents, scratches, or flickering screen), I'm getting a refund and will wait until they get their act together. It's really a shame my first i7 had the display problem -- it was otherwise perfect. I'll feel silly for not keeping it if the fix turns out to be firmware or software.

Haven't seen anything for over a few days and my iMac is now being kept warmer over night so hopefully the lines won't return. Hopefully. Either way I've only had it 4 days so I have plenty of time to get a replacement if I see any more faults!

Thanks, Jimi

Hi guys,
As I posted earlier I am sending my new 27" i7 8gb back today (after only 2 days of ownership) and getting a replacement sent. The one thing I forgot to mention was that when I was on the phone with technical support last night they wanted me to try and take a screen shot of the problem. I explained that the screen tearing would happen so fast and unexpectedly that that would be difficult. Luckily it happened that the dock was stuck in the middle of the screen was about 5 seconds and I thought this would definately capture the problem. However, when I took the shot everything appeared absolutely normal (i.e. dock on the bottom where it should be and no tearing at all). The tech thought this was highly suggestive of a hardware and not a software problem leading him to immediately suggest just getting a new unit. Just trying to give more information to the thread about what might actually be happening.

Jay92323 wrote:

As I posted earlier I am sending my new 27" i7 8gb back today (after only 2 days of ownership) and getting a replacement sent. The one thing I forgot to mention was that when I was on the phone with technical support last night they wanted me to try and take a screen shot of the problem. I explained that the screen tearing would happen so fast and unexpectedly that that would be difficult. Luckily it happened that the dock was stuck in the middle of the screen was about 5 seconds and I thought this would definately capture the problem. However, when I took the shot everything appeared absolutely normal (i.e. dock on the bottom where it should be and no tearing at all). The tech thought this was highly suggestive of a hardware and not a software problem leading him to immediately suggest just getting a new unit. Just trying to give more information to the thread about what might actually be happening.

Interesting. Thanks for the info - much appreciated.

Holy Crap - Does anyone have a 27" without this problem? I have an i7 on order and really want it, but I'm thinking seriously about canceling the order.

Dicebier wrote:
I would be interested to know the production date of the earlier iMacs as opposed to the recent ones with less issues. Not to question or insult anyones knowledge...but in your serial number the the third digit "9" represents the year 2009, the next two after that represent the week in 2009 it was produced, in my case it is "46" which is the week of Nov 8-14th. Are people with earlier production dates having more issues and are the newer macs showing signs of improvement. The sad part is that once the issue is solved for an individual...they just stop reading threads like these...we need to stick with this not just for our own machines but to help people who have helped us and are still having problems.

Hey, I've experienced the flickering issues as well. Looks like my machine predates yours. First 5 digits include: W8941

I wonder when the good iMac's started to go into production... Anyone have a machine later than 946?

London-based Apple employee just told me he has seen zero returns and none slotted for repair. Granted, London is a backwater town, but I find that reassuring.

Hello!

I got a iMac 27" Nov 14th and had the flickering problem after using it for only 10 min.!!!
Monday the 16th I brought it back to the store where i bought it (FONA in Aarhus N, Denmark). They told me that they had never heard of the problem, but they replaced it (VERY good service by the way), and they told me that the new one was from the same batch.
Now I have the same flickering problem with my new iMac 27" after using it for 7 days!
I am going to call apple and the store (FONA in Aarhus N, Denmark) tomorrow, but this time I want my money back!!!
I don´t want to get another one with the same problem again, I want to wait untill apple solves this MAJOR problem.

Any one else in Denmark having this problem?
And what have you done to solve it?

Message was edited by: Martin Ravn

It is a shame that nobody is posting about their imacs when they are working perfectly lol. I understand that would defeat the purpose of this thread because its about imacs which are suffering from these issues but I feel if you looked at the number of people with these problems compared to the number of these imacs Apple probably sold its probably a very slim percentage of these machines which are affected (for reasons yet unknown). I'm only on day 2 with my i7 so I can't pretend to be in the clear here but so far I haven't seen anything like the issues described here and posted and youtube. I've been using it mostly to paint in photoshop and design some stuff in illustrator so I'll admit that I haven't exactly been pushing the machines limits but I just thought I'd share my experience so far. I feel bad for those affected by this problem and I hope I will not be counting myself among you in the coming days...I will keep you updated if anything occurs and post my serial number if that helps anybody (im in a coffee shop at the moment so I'll have to look when I get home)

The only downside I've noticed so far is the heat, its really not that big of a deal I guess but even just painting in photoshop for a few hours and it got pretty hot (not hot enough to burn but still) The fans never came on so I assume I was well within normal operating temperature.

By the way some of the pixels on the display "died" today...

gerti wrote:
Did anyone see this problem on a system that was not allowed to go to sleep? I only see this when I wake the system from sleep. If I restart it, I can work on it all day without a hint of a flicker.

My guess is when waking from sleep the video hardware is not properly re-initialized, which would make this a software rather than a hardware problem.

My problem started right out of the box. Probably within 2 hours so it had never been to sleep.

Purchased the 27" iMac 5 days ago from Best Buy store.

After 3rd day, it began the flickering. I did no migrations. I did however download some High Def video from my camcorder that day. The flickering became noticeable AFTER the video transfer.

That night I powered down and the problem seemed gone the next day.......until several hours later.

Today I called Apple support and went through the Pram reset procedure. This halted the flickering for about 6 hours, before it began creeping back and accelerating with blackouts again. I have a case number and will call them again in the morning. My original packing and box are ready to take this unit back. I am also a disappointed first time Mac user.

So I don't think your problem is related to the Migration issue.

same same same.got mine at the end of october, the screen flickering started within an hour of opening the box, before i had put ANYTHING on it. i returned it and they waived the restocking fee reluctantly. guess i will just wait until they address and fix the problem.bummer for my first mac experience

Message was edited by: katie920

I just buy imac 27 as well and and having alot flicking every 20 minutes what should i do . return it back ?

IMACPATRICIO wrote:

I just buy imac 27 as well and and having alot flicking every 20 minutes what should i do . return it back ?

Should you return it? Hmmm. No, if it's faulty you should definitely keep it. Come on my friend, surely you don't need to ask this question. Have you not read any of the posts in this thread?