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

Firmware seems good to me. I never actually noticed flickering on my screen, till this Firmware news came out, and I decided to have a look to see if I was getting the flicker of even the smallest degree.

I set my wallpaper to pitch black, and I actually managed to notice a tiny line (about 30x1 pixels big) appearing around my screen every 5 minutes or so. So far I've not seen a thing.

Okay, second i7 arrived today. Week 05. Yellowing is pretty bad in lower right corner (particularly a narrow vertical band). Also seems pretty heavily blue on the left / upper-left of the monitor. And I can notice a faint "dark band" across the bottom 1 inch of the monitor. Pretty bizarre. And lame.

No flickers yet, but machine's only been on for 30 min. Haven't applied today's firmware patch.

Le sigh. I guess I'll call Apple, and ask to wait the 2-3 weeks until they do the LCD panel replacement program. Really not happy with needing to repair a machine I just bought but if it'll fix it once and for all, I'll deal with it. Not confident that another replacement new model is going to be any better.

I just want to raise my hand to say I'm also seeing the yellow tint issue. People say the problem gets worse over time and I think I'm starting to agree. It's not a show-stopper right now, but it seems this will eventually get bad and I sure hope Apple replaces it at no cost.

The idea of whether or not heat is a factor that is affecting the performance of our iMacs has been amply discussed in this thread. Not being an Apple tech, I obviously cannot provide an authoritative answer to this question.

In my particular case, my iMac -- along with two other much older Macs -- is situated on a long table in a small air-conditioned room. The ambient temperature is probably in the mid to high 70's, and on very hot days -- during the height of our dry season -- it goes considerably higher, even with the air con running 24/7.

There are other heat-producing devices in the room as well.

While this may seem a bit silly -- since it should be obvious to everyone to do this -- I wanted to mention that the 27" iMac is situated almost two feet from the wall behind it. This allows for plenty of air circulation behind the unit, and prevents a build-up of heat between the wall and the back of the unit.

Considering how much heat these machines generate, I imagine that most of you long-time computer users also have your iMacs away from the wall a safe distance, but I thought that I should mention this point anyway, as it could possibly make a big difference in the performance of your iMac.

Dino1956 wrote:
How on earth do you guys get Apple to come to your home & repair your Mac? Is that something like Apple Care Plus? I never heard of them coming to your home.

Hello Dino,

If you read Apple's online documentation regarding the AppleCare Protection Plan, it does mention on-site repairs. The way that it is worded, it is difficult to tell -- at least for me -- whether that applies to individual purchasers, like many of us here, or if on-site repair only includes institutions/corporations/businesses that have Mac-based networks.

However, over the past few months, I have read several comments on these forums where people say that Apple has sent someone to their home for repairs, and Apple pays all of the expenses of transportation, etc.

This might particularly apply to people who have disabilities, or who are located hundreds of miles from the nearest Authorized Apple Service Provider. On-site repair is probably decided upon on a case-by-case basis, and I bet that those individuals who have a long history with Apple -- meaning that they've spent loads of money on Apple products -- probably get preferential treatment when it comes to on-site service.

None of the above is official . . . just my personal opinion.

ZacWitte wrote:
I just want to raise my hand to say I'm also seeing the yellow tint issue. People say the problem gets worse over time and I think I'm starting to agree. It's not a show-stopper right now, but it seems this will eventually get bad and I sure hope Apple replaces it at no cost.

Hello Zac,

You might want to check out the following thread which is specifically dedicated to the yellow tinge:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11001194#11001194

Firmware update applied to my satisfactory i7, with no evident ill-effects after two hours. To be clear, my i7 did not suffer from flickering, only a very faint yellow tinge which I can easily accept. To my eyes, the faint yellow has not changed in more than two months.

Dino,

when i called Apple to get a case number for my flickering imac, I was told that if i had Applecare I could get on site service if it needed repairs. I asked twice just to make sure and she repeted twice that yes, with applecare I could ask for onsite service

I have a week 45 27" iMac i7. Pretty much one of the first batches out.

It has had minor screen flickering since the beginning, but it never really bothered me enough to worry about exchanging it. I never saw the flickering in Windows 7 so I figured it was a software thing that could be fixed.

Anyways, here is my experience:
1) First firmware update - seemed to fix it, but flickering came back after a day.
2) Second firmware update - with about 2 hours of use last night, I didn't see a single flicker. But we'll see.

Hi Brian.
Funny thing is, all 3 imacs I owned had the blue down the left hand side, as well as the yellow stuff everywere!
Plus my third 27" i5 had the dark band going all the way across about 2 inches from the bottom of the screen. And I saw one in my local Apple store with exactly the same band!!!!!!!

They are just using rubbish to save money!

Very strange, we waited so long for this display firmware and now nobody seems to be happy. We have two negative reports (dxgriffiths&Leisas4) and ONLY two or three positive reports. What's up now? Does the firmware help or not? Have we seen the ultimate fix for the flicker or is it more a kind of test? Can we close this thread or will this story go on? We need more feedbacks!

Yes Dino, Apple will send someone to your location in some circumstances.

On a previous machine, 24" core 2, 3.06, Apple sent a repair tech to my home on two occasions to attempt to make repairs.

It is part of Applecare, and if I understand it correctly, they will do this if you live more than a couple of hours travel from the nearest certified tech. The closes to me is about three hours away.

BTW.....just finished setting up snares for the FedEx guy, he's not getting past me this time. He tried to deliver my new machine yesterday, but managed to escape with it. Not gonna happen this time.

Since I have a new machine, figured there was no reason not to apply the firmware update, after about six hours of use, not a single flicker, or problem of any kind. If this holds up, I have a perfect machine, that will be sent back to Apple within the next day or two. Not a single dead pixel, no yellowing or bluing, absolutely perfect.

I'm really gonna give the new one a workout before I part with this one.

I must admit I am puzzled by the recent posts. If one looks at the forum in "MacRumors" the picture is a little more positive with somewhat larger input. I have also noted that on "squeaked.com" there has been little change over the past few days. After all these pages -- where is everyone? Has the problem been resolved for most? The "yellowing" problem is still alive and well -- but that is a separate issue.

Citrus....the blackout during startup, after installing the firmware may be part of the update, mine did the same thing, so that is not necessarily a negative. So far, not a single flicker after the update.

That's the worst thing about this thread, when most users have their problems corrected, they disappear, and don't report positive results here. Only negative.

Of course, there are probably a few posting here that would think that Apple is "disappearing" them, just to keep complaints down.

Good idea!! Run it to the Ground. Unfortunately Apple Service Center is only 24 miles away & I'm not confident in them.