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

Dicebier,
You say you went to the apple store....got a gift card and am waiting until all this BS is done!! How likely is it, this is an option for everyone or for me? I'm scared now.

I have an order pending for an i7 scheduled to ship Dec 11... I'm wondering if maybe I shoudl cancel it...

I REALLY should not have spent the money now, and I really could not deal with having a flakey machine that might never be "right" given that....

Also this was going to be my first iMac... I've been buying PowerMacs.

Typically I use a Mac for 4 years and then pass it to someone else in the family who uses it for another 4 years (until I hand off my 'new' one). Thats how I justify Apple prices. And I've never had problem with the hard ware over the 8 years...

I was originally was worried if iMacs would be up to that ... But the i7 iMac seduced me. All this makes me worry that maybe I made a mistake no matter what.

- Karen

I was in my 14 days from my last exchange...return date on receipt was dec 3....they waived the restocking fee and were aware of the issue...guess its a case by case basis. I'm gonna wait to see when this is corrected and then its i7 for me. Bottom line...its the video card or the display or both. the video card on the 21.5 is a geforce, no flicker but some reports of yellowish tinge...the video card on the 27 inch is ati and also has yellowish tinge...dead pixels and tinge issues are display related, flickering and blackouts are video card and or display issues....Im at the point where im just gonna wait and see.

Jan, why not just get the iMac serviced? Likely, all of the service parts at this point, because the 27-inch is so new, must be brand new. It is likely an easy fix and way faster than anything that you are going to get shipped back and forth -- plus who wants to reload everything again. If at the end of the day the repair doesn't work you can still ask for a replacement. I assume you have AppleCare extended protection? If you do they'll come on site if you live close enough. Mine was fixed with a service call and it is absolutely fantastic now. They replaced the display and some cable. It took 2 days for them to get the parts in and the repair took less than 1 hour at my house. Very happy that is what I did. I was offered a replacement but I didn't want to wait and definitely didn't want to reload everything. In any case Apple was fantastic and very accommodating to my needs. Not every time you do business with a company will it be perfect, but Apple stepped up and took care of it right away.

I mentioned this before, but I've found that the few times the screen started flickering and blacking out, all I did was put it to sleep and wake it up again. Then the flickering stopped and didn't come back for days.

That said, I didn't spend over $2,000 for a computer that has bugs. I'm exchanging it -- hopefully -- on Thursday.

Finally got a call back from my store, maybe a week, we are aware of the problem and don't want you to wait another 38 days. So, no mention of picking up the doa, which was boxed ready for a transport at any time soon. I though well if I have the time I will run more tests,.
I ran:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/11661
found a dead pixel and found a screeen blur
and

http://tapplox.com/imac-led.html

really bad yellowing at the bottom 1/4 of whole screen

ellsmako wrote:

Simon how is the replacement unit going ?

So far so good. Not even close to being 'out of the woods' yet.

I'm now leaning even more towards this not being a design issue or a quality control issue at all. When it leaves the factory the iMac is every bit the Apple product we expect it to be. But during the journey, the inadequate packaging, lack of indication as to how the couriers should treat it (although to be fair I'm not sure how much of a difference this would make anyway) results in something getting damaged that isn't bad enough to stop it from working but bad enough to cause the symptoms being reported. That would explain why there's no logic as to batches, build numbers, etc. It all depends on how many times the box received a certain level of shock as to how badly these symptoms show up, how quickly they show up, etc. It would also explain why Apple hasn't found an answer yet. The machines they test in the factory work fine.

This thread is slowly disappearing from google results... I'm worried about it.
I would like an Apple pronunciation about this annoying problem. I'll not buy an iMac 27.
I'm going to save my money and my patience!

Hi, i have stumbled on this thread searching the 'net to see if anyone had the same problem as me.... it seems there are loads and loads..
I bought my new i5 27" imac, batch number 46 last week from an Apple store....
I noticed my screen flickering and momentarily going black today... not a good sign considering the expense of it and my first time to Apple computers after coming to Apple from Microsoft because of the totally inept Vista.
Anyway, seeing as i'm well within the 14 days of purchase, do i just contact the Apple Store, and demand an exchange or refund???
I will need to return it to a different one though, as i bought this one on a Xmas shopping trip with the wife in Manchester, my local Apple store is Liverpool...can i return it to that one? Am i within my rights to demand a refund/exchange????

Cheers all.

simon norris wrote:

Hi, i have stumbled on this thread searching the 'net to see if anyone had the same problem as me.... it seems there are loads and loads..
I bought my new i5 27" imac, batch number 46 last week from an Apple store....
I noticed my screen flickering and momentarily going black today... not a good sign considering the expense of it and my first time to Apple computers after coming to Apple from Microsoft because of the totally inept Vista.
Anyway, seeing as i'm well within the 14 days of purchase, do i just contact the Apple Store, and demand an exchange or refund???
I will need to return it to a different one though, as i bought this one on a Xmas shopping trip with the wife in Manchester, my local Apple store is Liverpool...can i return it to that one? Am i within my rights to demand a refund/exchange????

No need to demand an exchange or refund Simon. You're completely within your rights to obtain it. The 14 day 'cooling off' period is for returns where you've changed your mind, not for faulty products - you have much longer (see previous posts). No problem in returning it to a different Apple store either. Good luck.

well, softpedia have reported the problem also:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Model-iMacs-Have-Screen-Issues-128331.shtml

I`ll phone the store this morning, telling them i`ll be there on sunday for a refund / exchange.

The packaging theory makes a lot of sense, IMO. Combined with the resealed packages going out as replacements (sometimes I hate being right) and the confirmed bug in the pre-Nov 4 graphics drivers, it paints a plausible picture. People buying direct from the online Apple Store are probably overrepresented in this forum (if you bought it in a store, the first reaction is likely to go in to that store and get a replacement).

I still have the box for my old iMac G5 in the attic. Was up there for other reasons the other day, and the comparison between the new box and the old one is striking.

I agree with Simon and my first guess , Apple should at least put an arrow on the box and a shock sticker, at least you could refuse it before opening.

I have had Imac i5 for about 10 days now, love it. Have watched a few movies and the flicker and black out is annoying. Random 1 second black outs and flicker is a problem thats starting to annoy me. Did not seem to notice it happening much at first but I think its getting worse.. Will call apple tomorrow think I know the answer though!!

p.hugo wrote:
This thread is slowly disappearing from google results... I'm worried about it.
I would like an Apple pronunciation about this annoying problem. I'll not buy an iMac 27.
I'm going to save my money and my patience!

I myself am concerned by the fact that this discussion thread is quite rapidly dropping down the search rankings. At the time of writing this this thread appears last on Google.com for the same query I used 2 days ago when it appeared first.

I am quite skeptical about Apple trying to force this down the rankings in hoping that customers with the same problem don't find this thread and return their machine as advised by numerous users here.

A update from me:
It's now the second day of using my replacement machine and I haven't had the flickering issue as of yet. However this morning when returning to my machine and closing the screen saver I did see a very small single flicker, but as a past windows user this is a common happening. So, at this time I'm putting that flicker down to the screen saver going off to show the desktop.