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

Thank you Jacques for joining this thread. Finally someone other than me with a 21" Screen. Do you have ATI or NVidia Graphics?

I would point out a thing:
we are speaking about a *display clabe* and a *v-sync cable* (correct me if i'm wrong). I thinked since the beginning: from when the vsync signal is on a dedicated cable? It's just a single signal: 1 or 0. It should only say to LCD "hey don't refresh" or "hey refresh when you want".

Check DVI and VGA pinouts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/DVI_pinout.svg

I assume the connection between display and video card is done or with DVI or with HDMI. Since there are DVI to HDMI adapters, also HDMI has the vsync signal in it (checking wiki or hdmi pinouts i can't find a clear vsync pin).

So.. Who said "they tried first by replacing display cable and nothing happened. After by replacing the vsync cable the problems was solved".
What are you saying?

A display usually have 2 external connections:
1. power cable
2. "data cable" (DVI/HDMI)

So i think the right thing is:
they first tried with the power cable, then tried with the "data cable"

Ettore, Excellent Questions! If we find someone with Yellow Tinge who can plug another Monitor in, we will find out wether it could be fixed with Software, which I am not betting on. But that is a perfect test. Thanks.

And just to add, the NVidia Card iMac flickers as well.

My Yellow on both iMacs were out of the box. The first iMac did not flicker for 5 Days. This new one in 4 days in so far with no flicker. So the flicker is not causing the Yellow tinge IMO.

Got my machine 24th Dec - Plus Final Cut Studio so cost close enough to  €3000. I am most underwhelmed. The screen flickers - I've had the blackouts. I've had the screen freeze during a rendering operation. Had to re-render and that takes many hours. Not great. At first I thought it might simply be that the machine was being overwhelmed by the amount of processes I had to run... and / or there was some kind of bug in FCP. With a busy month or so of work and now coming out of that busy period I have had time to realise that it is nothing to do with FCP and / or internet - and then found this thread. Six days after my 30day warranty expired. Not happy - Apple have been keeping this very quiet and as far as I am concerned and the laws of consumerism I'm sure are not that different in Ireland from UK, US and Europe. I'm going to demand a replacement or money back. This is entirely unacceptable.

Hi Len,

there has been a firmware update. Did you already try it out?

Yes I checked that the firmware update has been installed and it had. I've read a lot of the threads here but not all of them obviously. As I'm typing the screen flashes about once a minute. While video editing it is very annoying.

I just contacted Apple Support.
I too have the flickering problem and have had it awhile...I installed the graphics firmware update when it came out.
The support member informed me that I had two options...get a replacement or 2-3 weeks as Apple is apparently making another update for the GPU.
I am waiting as I have a lot installed and saved on this computer.
I really hope this one fixes the issues.
Editing video is a real pain when the screen is constantly flickering.

Part of me thinks the problem lies in the fact that:
the iMac is an all in one
if you feel the top back part after an hour of use IT IS EXTREMELY HOTT!
I almost wonder if the flickering is caused by the graphics card getting too hot?
My iMac does not start flickering until its been on a good while 1/2 hour to an hour.

I just want it to work...I am a digital media student and need it to work right.

I almost wonder if the flickering is caused by the graphics card getting too hot?

Hi hawkinsd,

We discussed it on this thread: It seems that temperature is not the problem. We've seen, that it's not the graphics card. The issue is very complex and the solution remains a mystery.

Did Apple tell you, if the next firmware update will resolve all issues or just the flicker problem?

I wanted to make a suggestion to those of you who have been contacting Apple by phone.

While I may be wrong about this, I suspect that the upcoming firmware update may possibly concentrate primarily on correcting the screen flicker, being as that is the issue which is the most obvious -- as well as being the most annoying -- to the majority of people who are afflicted by these issues. I know that you graphic artists are equally annoyed by the yellow tinge, but let's face it; many people have the yellow tinge on their screens and don't even realize it. For that reason, I suspect that Apple may concentrate the next firmware update on the issue that is currently giving it the biggest black eye.

Having said that, I would encourage everyone who contacts Apple employees by phone to try to get a clarification regarding whether or not the firmware update is truly intended to fix all current screen issues -- flickers, blackouts, yellow tinge, tearing, etc. -- or just the screen flicker.

I think we need to realize that if all of these problems are not related -- and we as end users really don't know one way or the other - then it may not be possible to fix them all with one and the same update.

Thoughts, folks?

+*The support member informed me that I had two options...get a replacement or 2-3 weeks as Apple is apparently making another update for the GPU.+*

Yes I wish more people would call up AppleCare/Support to get this information. There is a bunch of misinformation being posted lately, so I thought I would chime in. Also if you haven't called in like the past week, I would recommend calling in if you do not believe me. They only started saying that there is a fix coming in the last week. They will also ask you if you want a refund if you can not wait that long. Lets be real about it, the machine is sexy and I choose to wait.

I have called support two times, one time to open the ticket and a second time to check if I got the same information from a different tech. They both said the same information.... "there is a fix coming for the GPU" and "it is software related and not hardware". They also said both times that the fix is coming in roughly 3 weeks (which was roughly 1 week ago). They also said that the first firmware update only fixed a minor portion of the machines and that the second update will fix "everyone". If you call support and they say anything else, ask to speak to a higher level technician or supervisor (I did not have to do this though). I would also recommend to call to make them aware that you are having a issue. It will provide a paper trail, which is also helpful in the long run (make sure to get your ticket number).

I have complete faith that they will resolve it. Apple is known for quality do you really think they would let everyone suffer like this?

Conflicting Info for sure. I just got a call yesterday & was told there is no fix for Yellow or Flicker as of yet. They are working on a Fix. Could be 3 Weeks, But it could be longer. My rep agreed with me, that exchanging yet another one, I might get another defective iMac. He told me they would contact me as soon as the fix is in. Did not know if it was a firmware update or what the fix was at this point in time. It sounded like his Supervisor told him to call me just to touch base & get more info. But he told me blatantly & honestly, that Apple does not have a fix at this time for Flicker or Yellow.

"there is a fix coming for the GPU"

We have different types of GPUs (please correct me if I'm wrong). Could it be that Leopard is the problem and Mac OS X (10.6.3) is the solution. What do you think?