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

Wow!
Talk about bad journalism!
The Macnn article links to this thread as the source of the info!
There source is some unknown guy quoting an unknown technician saying he was told by someone (unidentified)that a fix was coming soon!

They get no confirmation from official sources and they go ahead and publish it!
I guess that as long as you put the word "allegedly" in an article, you can say just about anything

Not that I would not like to have a fix coming out, but I'm not holding my breath!

Ho and by the way, I was told that someone allegedly saw Elvis on an island in the south and he is alive and well...allegedly

Nexus600 wrote:
Ho and by the way, I was told that someone allegedly saw Elvis on an island in the south and he is alive and well...allegedly

Ha! Now I know for sure that you are lying!

After all, I just saw Elvis this morning, and even shared a cup of tea with him, and I live thousands of miles away from you!



Message was edited by: Warren Beasley

Hey! I said that someone saw him! not that I saw him!

Funny that you talk about having a cup of tea, I just finished having one with Jim!
Jim Morrison that is!

But I thing we are a bit off topic!

Message was edited by: Nexus600

Marilyn just hollered at me from the shower, wants you guys to tell Elvis and Jim hello for her.

(Monroe that is)

Man....you guys really need to work on your fantasies a little.

I see since I left, this thread is turning into nonsense! L.O.L.

Hello again everyone,

This is just another update on my new i7 Quad Core iMac.

I have had the unit for a week now, as of later this afternoon.

As I initially reported, it has 2.5 dead pixels on the screen, as well as 7 dead pixels on the iSight camera.

To date, there has been no screen flicker or screen blackouts.

However, today, for the first time, I detected what appears to be a slight case of the yellow tinge.

Whether or not it was there all along, I honestly do not know, but I didn't notice it until this afternoon when I was viewing a web page with a white background, such as the current Apple Discussion Forum page.

Even as I look at this current page, I can see that the area to the left of the forum layout is whiter, compared to the portion that is to the right of the forum layout.

If I set the desktop color to white, the contrast between the left half of the screen and the right half of the screen is noticeable. The tinge is most pronounced on the lower right sector of the screen, although it does appear to go all the way to the top of the screen on the right side. Looking at top left and top right verifies this.

When I first got this iMac, I didn't notice the tinge, and I did conduct the very same test then. This leads me to a suspicion; and that is that the tinge has developed over the course of the last week. Perhaps as the unit has been broken in, and been exposed to extended periods of heat, this has resulted in the chemicals that are in the LCD screen reacting with the heat, and causing the tinge to begin to appear.

Let me just say this: Considering how easy it is now to notice the color variations between the left and right sides of the screen, I am inclined to believe that the tinge was not there initially, that I did not simply overlook it, and that it has developed during the past week. Being as I use colorful desktop backgrounds, and many web pages do not sport a white background, it comes as no surprise to me that I didn't notice the tinge until now.

As I said, it is slight, but it is there. It isn't my imagination.

So with a total of 12 dead or stuck pixels, and now with the development of the slight yellow tinge -- which really isn't that bad -- I am wondering what my next move will be, if any.

Of course, this puts the spotlight on another concern: If the yellow tinge is just now developing, will the screen flickers and blackouts start soon as well? I am fully aware that -- based on the accounts in this thread -- I am by no means out of the danger zone yet.

So for all of you who were rooting for my success, there it is for what it is worth.

If the flickering does start, that will definitely take me off of the fence, and I will contact my local Apple dealer.

Hello everyone,

Well, I have something interesting to report...at least it seems interesting to me.

I was curious regarding the extent of the slight yellow tinge on my iMac, so I did the following. I encourage you to try it as well:

01. I set the desktop background to solid white.

02. I hid all desktop icons, including hard drives, app icons, etc.

03. I took a snapshot [commandshift3] of the desktop.

04. I opened the resulting .png image in Photoshop.

05. I copied the left half of the image into a new .psd file.

06. I copied the right half of the image into a separate new .psd file.

07. I horizontally flipped these two new images.

08. I created a new PS document measuring 2560x1440.

09. I copied and pasted the left half flipped image into the left half of the new PS document.

10. I copied and pasted the right half flipped image into the right half of the new PS document.

11. I saved the resulting new 2560x1440 image.

I'm sure that most of you here have figured out exactly what I was hoping to accomplish through this little procedure.

For those few of you who may have missed it, by cutting the original desktop image in half, horizontally flipping the resulting left and right halves, and then creating a new desktop image of equal size from those two halves, I was actually placing the left edge of the desktop image flush against the right edge of the desktop image, in a new file, where the juncture of these two edges would be in the very center of the newly-created 2560x1440 image.

By doing the above, I was hoping to see exactly how much color contrast there is between the left and right edges of my screen.

Well, guess what?

To my own perplexity, I discovered absolutely none! Even when reversing those two halves of the screen, there is no discernible difference of any kind where the two halves meet in the center of the new image.

Based on what I am even now seeing as I look at the left and right sides of this current forum page, that new image should clearly show some degree of white/yellow contrast, from top to bottom, where the two edges meet, in the middle of the new image that I just made, yet there is none. Even after reversing the left and right side of my desktop, both halves still blend perfectly together, as if the color is the same across the entire screen.

Folks, I am baffled. Are my eyes just deceiving me?

I would be very interested in hearing from some of you who have a bad case of the yellow tinge, much worse than my own. Please follow the steps above -- using whatever graphics program you like -- and let me know what you discover. Is there a sharp division in color in the very center of your new image where the left and right edges meet?

Thanks! This ought to be interesting. It would be nice if we had a common place where folks here could all post their images for comparison.

Warren, if I read and underestood correctly, you shouldn't see any difference between them. Th fault is not in the colour signal (call it what you will) but in the physical panel itself. Meaning that even though you have cut and shut the plain backgound around, it is still going to be exciting exactly the same pixels on the screen. The tint comes from an external influence; not from the signal that is being sent to the monitor. By rights, doing what you have described should have made no difference whatsoever.

I have just returned from taking back my second i5. My first one had the flickers and this latest one has the tinge and a couple of dead pixels on the iSight.

Waiting to hear...

Message was edited by: HiFiRobbie

Message was edited by: HiFiRobbie

Warren - I might be completely misunderstanding your description, but if the yellow tinge is caused by a hardware defect in the monitor (which seems almost certain), then taking a screenshot won't capture the tinge to a file. Taking a screenshot via cmd-shift-3 simply transfers the data from your video card (of what should be projected on the monitor) to a file.

That's also why you won't see the yellow tinge if you hook up an external monitor to your iMac.

Hello Robbie and Brian,

Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate it.

I guess the fact that I was perplexed by the results of my Photoshop manipulation demonstrates that I am not exactly the most technically-savvy person, or the brightest crayon in the box. In fact, when I began to explain my dilemma to my daughter, she gave me the very same explanation that you both did.

BTW, I just had her look at my screen on this same page. I didn't give her any hint or suggestion regarding what I hoped she would see. She can't even see the slight yellow tinge -- that's how slight it is -- but I still do.

I am beginning to think that what that one Apple tech said about perception may possibly be true. We are all physically different, and our eyes perceive things differently.

For example, my daughter says that she sees blue bleeding from the edges of the forum section of this page, while I don't see it at all.

Go figure...

Warren, if I stare at a Safari page such as this with alternating blue & white, I can see complementary colour when I look at the white to right or left. It may be my eyes of course but the effect is real and lasts for a short time. The very faint yellow is there on this screen but it is not serious and has not changed in over two months of use.

"I see dead people"


Sorry, but if I don't laugh, I'll cry.

I stopped in at the Apple Dealer later this afternoon to see if there was any progress on my machine. The girl told me they'd just started on it and I could see what looked like a 27 with the front panel opened up. Could they be replacing things in there??? Who knows...? Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow!

ScotMij wrote:
Warren, if I stare at a Safari page such as this with alternating blue & white, I can see complementary colour when I look at the white to right or left. It may be my eyes of course but the effect is real and lasts for a short time. The very faint yellow is there on this screen but it is not serious and has not changed in over two months of use.

Hello Scot. Maybe that is what my daughter was referring to as well.

So it sounds like you and I may be experiencing close to the same level of the yellow tinge. I agree; mine is barely perceptible, and nowhere near serious enough to motivate me to ask for an exchange, repair or refund. As I said, it is only noticeable on pages with a white background, and when I have my brightness turned all the way up.

At this point in time, unless I am plagued by the screen flicker, screen blackouts, or other serious problem, I plan on keeping this machine, as I am enjoying every minute of it.

My only criticism at this time would be that the mouse batteries don't last too long. I am barely on my seventh evening with this machine, and they are already down to 77% -- and I do turn off the mouse at night.

Question: Does hitting the button on the right end of the keyboard turn it off for the night as well, or does the keyboard only use power when you are actually typing? I've been hitting that button just to play it safe.

One thing which I think would be nice, would be if when the user chooses the "Shut Down" option under the Apple Menu, an on-screen reminder comes up to remind the user to turn off the mouse.

Warren Beasley wrote:

ScotMij wrote:

Question: Does hitting the button on the right end of the keyboard turn it off for the night as well, or does the keyboard only use power when you are actually typing? I've been hitting that button just to play it safe.

One thing which I think would be nice, would be if when the user chooses the "Shut Down" option under the Apple Menu, an on-screen reminder comes up to remind the user to turn off the mouse.

Am I missing something here, doesn't the Mouse automatically goto sleep / turns off after a predetermined amount of time thus saving the battery? I've had my iMac for 5 weeks now and still have 57% Battery life and have never switched it off.

Not sure if the mouse goes to sleep. On my second set of batteries and now using NiMH rechargeables which seem to be lasting longer. The Keyboard is doing well on the first set having just dropped to 97% after two months.