New iMac 27" i7 - Popping Noise

Thanks for the response. I'm going to keep an eye on this thread. Are there any other threads pertaining to the popping noise?

i7iMacMan can you let us know the outcome of your popping noise? I'm on my 3rd imac i7 with same problem.

1st imac- Severe Backlight Bleeding
2nd imac- Severe Flickering
3rd imac (current)- Popping sound almost exactly as Original Poster described. But sounds like it's coming from somewhere in the back of the imac. Hard to pin point it.

Was hoping this is repairable. I don't really want to risk another return and get a flickering, backlight bleeding piece of s * again.

Hi, although I totally agree that you have every right to be very AngrY, I doubt pseudo bad language will change anything. After your second exchange why did you not ask for a refund?
The Popping Issue" has been around in some form or other since the White C2Duo's.. I agree the 27" has probably had more than it's fair share of issues, though to be fair to Apple they have NOT turned their back on anyone or any issue with the 27"...
Me, I would call Apple Corp/Customer Service & ask for your problems be escalated, one way or another Apple WILL do their Best & Offer their utmost endeavor to keep you a happy & continuing customer...L

So . . . I returned my iMac i5 for the clicking noise behind the screen in the thin vent area. They said it might be power inverter/supply issue. They replaced it with a new one. I took it home and bam, the clicking/popping was on that one too. It's incredibly annoying. So, I went to a different store and they suggested waiting a week before swapping it again. So I did.

Now I have a THIRD iMac 27" i5 chip machine that is intermittently clicking in the same area. I am using a surge protector, and I don't think it's dirty power or anything like that.

Again, looking at the screen from the front, it's coming from the top left, but on the back of the machine. What is going on? There's no way that I want to swap it again. I really appreciate the amazing customer service and willingness to replace the machine, but how about actually fixing the problem? This is not good. I've never worked on a computer that has behaved like this.

Anyone hear anything more about this issue? I'm wondering if it's a warm-up thing. I feel like the frequency of the popping is reduced as the computer is on longer.

Thanks

I exchanged my i5 for a new one and it hasn't had the sporadic popping that my old one had. It's been about 2 weeks now so hopefully it stays quiet. btw. the experience with Apple support to exchange the machine was incredibly smooth and friendly.

Hi, mine still pops from time to time, but it settles down with time. We have two identically set up 27" i5's, one pops from time to time, I've never hear the other one pop. I'm either getting used to it or just not noticing it so much. I may try an exchange if eventually I can't take it any more, who knows. It does sound like people have exchanged theirs only to have the same issue again.

Any recordings of the 'Popping' noise around to compare?

I'm getting regular intermittent (but for the whole time the computer is on) hard drive activity. I'm viewing this also in the 'Disk Activity' tab in 'Acitivity monitor'.

It's very annoying - any firmware fix available for this yet?