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

Dear all,

Waiting for a long time for our i5 imacs and perhaps even longer until we receive them, I have, like most of people posting here, search a lot about the reported wide spread display problems and possible solutions. I have read with great interest, to my surprise, a thread in cinema displays discussions about the 24 inch ACD, full of complaints from ACD users reporting the same display issues, like momentary blackouts, flickering etc.
I think that there is a relationship between the two led displays (obviously they are based in similar technology) and possibly both have a weak point which is prone to malfunction, this may be the PSU, the interconnects and cabling or any internals powering the leds. I also think that the ATI cards in imacs are also one more negative factor due to bad drivers or firmware. Remember last spring's issues with 4850 in imacs ?

The thread is from last February without any solution or official word.....

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1902288&start=0&tstart=0


Ioannis

Message was edited by: i. m.

Message was edited by: i. m.

Following my last post on page 51 I have received Apple's analysis of the flickering problem based on the 'capture' they did. Their response is:

"On the symptoms it seems that the Display Port cable on the MLB side is not locked properly. I would suggest the customer goes to a service centre and gets the system opened up and has the MLB side DP cable reseated."

I'm off to a service centre tomorrow morning to get it looked at. Not overly confident that the Apple Service Centre in deepest SW France has taken apart one of these beasts before so I'm taking a printout of the iFixit Teardown and will see if I can watch while he does the necessary work. So long as he doesn't break the glass screen doesn't look like a too tricky job. I'll let you know how it goes.

Like so many others, I was all set to purchase the 27" iMac online last night, then I found this thread by accident while looking for something else. Today I called an Apple sales rep to ask if there was any official word or solution from Apple (there isn't, as you all know), and let him know I'm waiting to purchase until this is addressed by Apple. He said he hadn't heard of it, but actually went to YouTube while we talked on the phone to look at some of the screen flicker videos posted there.

This purchase was to be my joyful first leap from PC to Mac, and I don't want to do it until we're reasonably assured that the problem has been fixed... or at least that they know what it is. I'm grateful to everyone who has documented the problem!

I'll still hold out for a Mac, should have done that years ago!

Hi there my i5 is W8946 and my screen flicker is annoying. I am calling apple today! I think its getting worse as this is day 12 that i have had the machine, best hurry back to apple strore!

Paul, this would be great news! Basically this would mean that this is a minor manufacturing fault.

On second thought, why should Apple be so quiet about this? This should be easily repairable by any authorized dealer...

Please let us know about any updates and thanks for posting this!

What I'd like to know is what is it that differentiates units like mine (3 brief flickers in 7 days) with those who suffer intense, constant flickering (see YouTube). I'm getting a refund on mine this weekend and waiting for confirmation from Apple that this problem has been fixed.

All 3 times it happened on mine the machine had been on for a few hours, web browsing, iTunes and MS Word, nothing intense.

{quote:title=dwarnecke11 wrote:}What I'd like to know is what is it that differentiates units like mine (3 brief flickers in 7 days) with those who suffer intense, constant flickering (see YouTube). I'm getting a refund on mine this weekend and waiting for confirmation from Apple that this problem has been fixed.

All 3 times it happened on mine the machine had been on for a few hours, web browsing, iTunes and MS Word, nothing intense.{quote}
Maybe nothing more than time... or, if it's a loose connection, perhaps just being +not quite as+ loose, at least not yet.

Rudy Norff wrote:
On second thought, why should Apple be so quiet about this? This should be easily repairable by any authorized dealer...

In large companies (like Apple) the right hand often doesn't know what the left hand is doing. People don't talk to each other. Departments don't talk to each other. And the friendly faces in the stores (with all due respect to them) are often too busy, can't be bothered, or simply lack the initiative to proactively pursue these issues and/or pass information onto the relevant people/departments.

It's human nature at its finest
In circumstances like this, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
So make a noise - in front of the right people...

Installed my new iMac 27" last week end and I'm having the same problem randomly.

My feeling is that there is some where some firmware in the system which has some bug. Because the way the trouble is happening is completely random and not bound to any SW usage nor to other logistic situation.

I saw in the down-loadable support a lot of EFI firmware corrections but referred to previous iMac models. I understand the EFI driver is the one managing the screen.

Regretfully, I have just cancelled the delivery of my i7 iMac. There are just too many unresolved issues with this machine and the fact that Apple has not publicly acknowledged this issue has not helped matters.

My consolation prize is a refurbished 24-inch iMac. I have been in dire straights for an Intel Mac which would enable me to upgrade to CS4 and thought the 29-inch iMac would fit the bill perfectly. However, that was not to be, so the refurbed 24-inch iMac will have to do until Apple gets their act together.

Best of luck to those of you who have purchased the new iMac.

We have one that does the same thing, and have two friends I know of with exactly the same problem. Just patiently waiting for a fix to appear.

I bought my iMac 27 inch (Intel Core Duo), last week.. After letting the computer on overnight (for downloading purposes), (I turned the display off but the computer itself was on whole night.. Next morning after like 4 hrs, I start using it, and the horizontal screen flicker appears like the one in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jWlepBzVMs

I didn't get the blackouts though like some ppl had though..

After I ignored it, it kept on coming up more often. However then 1/4th of my screen went wrong and it displayed my screen incorrectly on like 1/4th of the monitor. I shut it down, then powered it on again and everything went away.

Next morning, I left the computer overnight to try to get the flickering back. However they didn't come back. So I guess I'm lucky they only happened then, and don't come back now. But they may. Idk.

My point is what's the point of returning it? It's not defective. All the iMacs use the same cooling fan system. So there's no point. I guess we'll just need to wait for the software update or something like that from Apple.

My opinion is this stuff happens on all iMacs when they reach a certain temperature. It has nothing to do with the hardware I guess. Apple's issuing new ones (just to make the customer more happy) until they solve the issue via a software update I think.

I believe this happens b/c there is no auto regulation of the fan speed / usage. What the Apple update should do is: Control the fans after the usage (if intense = blow more ; if idleing = go to lowest blowing setting ). I totally believe this, and ppl are returning their iMacs for no reason. I hope Apple responds ASAP and makes the fix via a software update. Nobody would want extra hassle with returning the iMac, and reinstalling everything on the new one.

This is just my opinion though, I am not sure. I hope it's right though, b/c a software update solving this issue would be much cooler than replacing the iMac.

Let's definitely hope Apple is aware of this issue, and wish they could respond!

{quote:title=Tfro wrote:}We have one that does the same thing, and have two friends I know of with exactly the same problem. Just patiently waiting for a fix to appear.{quote}
If it's hardware, they may never make a fix known, they will let people keep these systems and hope to make as few repairs as possible.

<Edited by Host>

Interestingly enough, I had this problem from day 1, two weeks ago now, but I haven't seen the flicker or blackouts in days. I ordered a new machine already and planned to return this defective one when I receive the new one so that I wouldn't be out of a machine. Apple gave me a $150 credit on the new purchase as a courtesy but I'm not very confident that the new machine won't have the same problem.

Anyone else have the problem mysteriously go away??

Ellipsystematic-

You are the second person I have seen who claims to have received a credit from Apple. How did that come about? Whom did you talk to and what caused them to give you the credit?

I am sure others would like to know too...

Thanks