Screen burn-in on 24" iMac

There are a few things you can try-

If you can, leave your screen off for a weekend. If that doesn't clear things up, you can try changing your background to a solid color for a few hours, or have it automatically cycle through several different solid colors as you work.

If you have a screen saver, try an intensive one- one that really forces the screen to change- something like the mosaic iPhoto screen saver.

You have to 'unstuck' the stuck pixels, and the best way to do that is to 'force' the pixels to change every now and then- or even ideally leave the power off for a while.

Many users of LCD screens report that eventually the image persistence goes away by following this advice.

Many, but not all. It is harmless to try, so give it a go and good luck

Message was edited by: kguy

Image persistence is user caused, so I doubt that the Apple warranty covers it. The source of the problem is a static image which than causes pixels to get stuck on one color. To prevent this happening one needs to use the System Preferences/Energy Saver settings to induce the Screen Saver whenever the Mac is left unused for any length of time. One can set the timer that activates the Screen Saver after so many minutes of inactivity on the Mac or set hot corners to activate the Screen Saver or to put the display to sleep by parking the cursor in the appropriate hot corner.

To remove image persistence one can use apps such as LCD Scrub to "unstick" the pixels.

Dah•veed

If you Google screen or display persistence you will find that folks report they are told by every computer manufacturer that it is not covered under warranty because it is user caused. Folks report that even the mighty Dell considers it to be user misuse and will not replace displays suffering image persistence.

As far as your issue there are steps to take to minimize it in the future after you have resolved it with an app such as LCD Scrub linked above. You can configure the Dock to hide in its system Preferences. Then it appears only when you mouse over to its position. The preferences in Desktop & Screen Saver offer a translucent option for the menu bar. I also rotate my desktop image every 15 minutes, which means the image under the translucent menu bar is not the same constantly.

I have a 17" iMac bought in JAN '06 and it has no signs of image persistence.

Dah•veed

I've been using my 24" iMac for the past year and a half, and this issue is extremely aggravating. Sure, if you leave an image up for a while on a LCD it burns, that I can understand, but the fact that it takes only 1 - 2 hours for my screen to shadow the UI of what ever program I am working in is unacceptable.

There is a significant design flaw in the iMac's screen. I have done nothing besides use my device in the manor in which is consistent with normal operation, and according Apple its my fault there is image persistence. Well I'm sorry I spent my money on it. My family has 2 other all in one PCs (non-mac), and mine is the only one has ever had an issue with image persistence.

I've been using my 24" iMac for the past year and a half, and this issue is extremely aggravating. Sure, if you leave an image up for a while on a LCD it burns, that I can understand, but the fact that it takes only 1 - 2 hours for my screen to shadow the UI of what ever program I am working in is unacceptable.

I agree with you- only 1-2 hours to cause image persistence is NOT normal, and I believe way out of specifications. Especially if powering down eliminates the image persistence for a time.

You have a legitimate claim here- exercise your rights and call AppleCare for service.

Explain it just the way you explained it here, and mention that there is no way that image persistence after only a couple of hours of use is normal.

Agree with you entirely. I have had the problem and the only thing that works for me is using SMCFancontrol, running at approximately 2500 rpm. It pretty much takes care of the image persistance, but is quite noisy (like your typical PC). Again, this should not be a problem, but I doubt Apple will ever do anything about it.

1. Create an all-white screen in a graphics application such as AppleWorks or Photoshop, and save it as a JPEG file.

2. Use this as the image displayed by preview in full screen.

3. Turn the display brightness down (but not off) to preserve backlight bulb life.

An now all you have to do is wait.

A LCD screen can't burn but pixels do get stuck when displaying something for a long time.

Here is also a link to a java applet called JScreenFix http://www.jscreenfix.com/applet.php?width=2560&height=1440

GreetZzz T

David.Austin.Allen wrote:
Image persistence is user caused, so I doubt that the Apple warranty covers it.

This is just pure foolishness. An LCD screen will not show image persistence after a mere hour or two with a static image. This problem is endemic to the 24" iMac and is caused by excessive heating behind the display. The image persistence can be fixed by simply changing the desktop background to pure white and leaving it sit like that for several hours. You can pretty much remove the problem in the future by using SMC fan control and running the fan speeds up to around 2000 RPM or so. The persistence isn't damaging the screen, but it is indicative of a design flaw due to the obsessiveness with Apple over keeping the computer as quiet as possible. Under normal use in a cool-ish room, the problem will not usually show up. If you are making heavy use of your iMac (like using Photoshop or doing video editing), you'll start to see this problem crop up. If you regularly push your computer like this so that the internal temps often run hot, you definitely need SMC fan control to run the fan speeds up.

My iMac has had this problem more frequently as the computer has aged. I suspect the continuing build-up of dust in the fans and vents causes higher temps on a regular basis which leads to this issue more frequently. One of these days, I'll have to open the thing up and clean it out. I never saw this problem for the first year or so that I had the computer.

Spoke to Apple today regarding a very similar situation with the screen. I have change the screen every 2 months since August 2009, because of screen burn in or some other issue with the screen.
Just spoke to them today, they are saying it is an environmental issue where the machine is being used and as such they are not willing to replace the screen, given the history of my machine’s screen replacement.
This is what they replied, “the dark patches may be environmental but its impossible that this customer is the only one to get panels with this defect consistently.”
This is Apple saying this is not their problem anymore and they are not going to honour the warranty.

Spoke to Apple today regarding a very similar situation with the screen. I have change the screen every 2 months since August 2009, because of screen burn in or some other issue with the screen.
Just spoke to them today, they are saying it is an environmental issue where the machine is being used and as such they are not willing to replace the screen, given the history of my machine’s screen replacement.
This is what they replied, “the dark patches may be environmental but its impossible that this customer is the only one to get panels with this defect consistently.”
This is Apple saying this is not their problem anymore and they are not going to honour the warranty.

just want to add my name to the list of people seeing this on a 24in imac..in my case, i am doing heavy use, mostly in photoshop and aperture, and I too see this problem in as little as 1-2 hours...

needless to say, its a hassle..i have my screensaver set to all white and it starts after 5 minutes of idling, yet i still see screen burn in...

apple should admit the design flaw and either issue a software patch that allows you to control the fan speed or replace these units..

Ugh, Ive just set up an appt. at the local Apple Store for this issue--I'm a bit disheartened to have found this thread describing the exact same problem. I've recently installed Windows Vista via Boot Camp, and was surprised to notice that indeed, merely 1-2 hours of use is enough to cause screen persistence of the Vista background/icons (and of course, the usual elements in my main OSX screen are visible as well). It does happen more during heavier usage, sometimes alleviates after turning the machine off for a few hours, and I only noticed it as the machine has aged slightly (2 years ownership). I don't run a screensaver because I have Energy Saver set to sleep the display after 10 minutes of non-use.

The frustrating thing is, like many people I own plenty of LCD displays (both laptop and desktop), all of which are much older than the imac and stay on for much longer than the Mac. In fact, I have a Dell 24" monitor next to it that is almost twice as old, sees more use, has a longer sleep delay, and as never exhibited this problem.

I hope the guys at the Apple Store can help out.

I have the same problem. I have been using the Mac a lot in the past few weeks to design a website for univeristy but it has worked harder before. I too have a screen saver that kicks in after a few minutes. I have noticed that after switching it off over night the lines and shadows had gone, but they returned within a few minutes. I have taken the advice of moving the dock and will move it's position no and again, but I agree this is not something everyone would know about. I am running the JScreenFix as we speak but no success so far. i will try the white jpg as a background option over night. This is really poor though.