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

My 27" C2D, ordered Black Friday, shipped yesterday (Thursday 3rd) due for next Monday delivery. According to the serial # on the invoice it's a W89'48' issue. Here's hoping for a trouble free experience!!
It's going to be a loooong weekend for me!

Michnet76,

I really hope yours is perfect so let us know.

I cancelled my order last week and primed to order again once I see some improvement in this situation.

If any of you read the New York Times this Thursday-in the Personal Tech part of the Business Day section on page B 8 at the lower right hand side is a small article describing the problems that some buyers have been having with the new computers. The last paragraph states these problems may give pause to those who intend to buy although Apple is replacing the problem computers.

I guess the cat is really out of the bag when a widely read newspaper reports the problems that you all have been experiencing.

I was planing on posting when I received mine today but for some reason my iMac Went from Shanghai, Osaka, Louisville and then to Anchorage. I live in Philadelphia, PA.

See related posting, John Burns, "Re: When will i5 and i7 Quad Core iMacs actually be shipped?," Apple Discussions (http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10683106#10683106 : accessed 3 Dec 2009); in part, "My reseller sent me ... email yesterday ... [']Apple has identified a production issue with the graphics cards in the machines with quad core processors. This has resulted in machines with flickering screens or video problems. Many users that have received machines already are having these issues. Apple has re-worked the video card to resolve the issue, but this has created a delay on the orders.[']"

Posting goes on to provide more details. Reports that machines with issues with the older cards "would be resolved as a warranty repair on the machine."

If this is the case, assume those who contact Apple to report the issue will be hearing directly from the company, no? -MBM

{quote:title=MeBeMac wrote:}See related posting, John Burns, "Re: When will i5 and i7 Quad Core iMacs actually be shipped?," Apple Discussions (http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10683106#10683106 : accessed 3 Dec 2009); in part, "My reseller sent me ... email yesterday ... [']Apple has identified a production issue with the graphics cards in the machines with quad core processors. This has resulted in machines with flickering screens or video problems. Many users that have received machines already are having these issues. Apple has re-worked the video card to resolve the issue, but this has created a delay on the orders.[']"

Posting goes on to provide more details. Reports that machines with issues with the older cards "would be resolved as a warranty repair on the machine."

If this is the case, assume those who contact Apple to report the issue will be hear directly from the company, no? -MBM{quote}

I doubt this is the case - this has been reported on C2D machines and not just quad cores, so this message smells to me like a convenient delay excuse when Apple is reportedly just supplying direct orders before resellers in at least some cases.

Message was edited by: JiminSF

Yep, this issue affects the C2D models as well.

By the way, my Week 45 i5 just flickered for the fourth time this week. Getting a refund tomorrow. The entire screen flickered/garbled for a split second.

Exchanged my i5 today. Got one from the same batch. 946. So far it's doing fine. But then I've only been using it for about six hours.

Will just have to wait and see.

Hi all,

I just received my week 49 27" i7 today and so far so good, I'll let everyone know if anything changes.

Why do you doubt it? If Apple just wanted to win some time they would have not stated that this would result in flickering issues but rather would have just said they found some graphic card issues which need to be fixed.

If the dealer got this directly from Apple then I think we have a cause for the problem. And this cause would not make me feel very good even if I got an iMac which does not flicker, I would still not trust the graphics card in that case.

I told you guys, this graphic card is a rip off, having one ( not the mobile ) myself, it can get you some decent eggs if you try.

Too bad there is no BTO Nvidia Graphics card otherwise we could easily prove that it is ATI right now...

However, others have already posted that they see the flickering on external monitors as well, so it is getting more likely.

Same here unfortunately.
i7 Serial. W894

Started when viewing Youtube on Firefox 3.5.5.
Hard shutdown as would not restart.

I'm a photo retoucher and work all day on mine. Usually flickers a bit in the morning but stops after a reboot, no flickering for the rest of the day.. Very strange. How does a reboot stop the flicker issue?

Simon Catton wrote:
Same here unfortunately.
i7 Serial. W894

Thanks for adding your info. Sorry to hear about your i7. Regarding your posted serial number: it's missing the important next character. (the 4th & 5th chars represent the week)