Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

Hi guys...

Don't get me wrong I was answering the guy with the dirty glass and although I mentioned the other marks (the reason for this thred) I didn't mean to upset anyone.

I have had the marks myself and have taken the LCD apart and cleaned it myself. The reason for this is that I live on a small island off the North-East coast of Scotland called Orkney and to get to the nearest Apple shop or whatever involves hours of driving, a 12 hour ferry ride, a stay in a hotel, another 12 hour ferry ride and hours of driving! 😟

So really I've kind of become a DIY Apple centre out of necessity and also have found that the iMac is badly put together at the factory and that's why I take it apart and put it back together. Don't forget that the iMac is made in China and assembled by children. I myself could do with a new born baby to help me from time to time. It's a tight fit in there and quite akward when you come to put the LCD panel back in... especially on you own.

If you look inside you'll find Apple uses a black or greyish foam and, especially when the computer has been used a bit, the foam kind of ages... I guess that obvious 😊 but if you touch it or (far worst) wet it you get the same grey/black dust and colour that people report. If you look at the LCD panel it is sealed with a silver sticky tape and this is sometimes very badly done and not completely sealed. I believe that it is this 'dust' that gets through the unsealed parts and causes the problem.

Obviously, Apple would not dissemble the LCD screen at the shop so it just replaces them.

The 2011 iMac screen seems to be OK and is sealed a little different.

Love Ya

Er, yes. I don't expect to have to do all this, or learn how the internals of computers work. I shouldn't have to deal with this at all, not at this price.

The beautiful design and the customer service, unfortunately, are not connected.

I guess Mike O isn't concerned about blowing the warranty any more than the motherboard.

I'm a designer, not an engineer.

I need the computer working everyday, I can't not have it.

Mine's getting worse. Been putting it off. I'll have to make the jump and take it in - and live with not being able to catch up with work for however long it takes.

Definitely no more iMacs for me. It'll have to be a box and screen next time. Trouble is, times are tuff. When will this be?

------------ edit

Mike, jumped in as I was writing here.

Thanks, Mike, that's interesting.

I can see you would need to become adept at these things!

Message was edited by: IanSn - additional comments

I don't think anyone was being nasty towards you. They are just frustrated with Apple's continual disregard for addressing the issues with this model of iMac. And really they've been brushing it aside for three years now.

We're happy that you're able to fix your iMac yourself and are able to disasemble the LCD compenent, but most people, including me, do not want to have to go that far to repair their machines. And I did see pictures and a description of what that entails, and the process is definitely beyond hard drive or RAM upgrading. Not to mention, even if someone manages to disassemble the screen and wipe it down, what's going to stop the problem from occuring again?

Apple needs to just recall these machines and give the option of trading up to a newly remodeled iMac or provide customers with a full refund.

hello mate!!!

it would be ideal if you cna let us know either with vid or pictures how did you do that!ikm trying to do this myself cos my warranty has expired so only solution will be to open the thing myself..i think i saw a wee guide but nothing to explanatory to be honest!

woud be nice if you cna help mate!

thanx!

Same here, I got 3 iMac 27″. Apple replace all 3 screen then everything was fine until now, winter is coming and we have started the ultra sonic humidifier, then boom the stain started to re appear on all 3 computer. (the humidifyer is REALLY far away in our bedroom computer on separate room) The iMac is not under apple care anymore, apple will not replace them and anyway it will not fix the problem. When we made them fix, Apple ask if we have Ultra sonic humidifier, I guess they know the problem, if you don’t have an ultra sonic humidifier, I guess it’s something in the environment that do the exact same thing

The best guides that I have found are available at :www.ifixit.com. You just have to identify your model of Macintosh and just about all the 'Fix it ' guides and tools required are avaiable here. All the guides are downloadable and they give you a list of special tools that make your life a lot easier !

Good Luck!

Perhaps I'm being lazy as I haven't read all 29 pages of this post but having had just that problem I can report as follows.

If you are under warranty OR if you have taken out the Apple care option ... the Apple people will remove and clean the screen. That can also be done through a re-seller.

I've been there, done it and got the "No Charge' receipt.

Good luck.

I for one don't appreciate lugging a 27" iMac around. And cleaning the glass just doesn't do it. These are burnt in markings in the LCD. And a new LCD doesn't last long either before the dirty clouds form again. It is shameful of the leaders in Apple to avoid taking care of this issue as they should.

I have said it before in this thread about 20 pages ago.

"Class...Action...Lawsuit"

For those of us in the USA -- Apple has not ground to stand on with this issue. It would require them to own up to the issue and at the very least take responsiblity for a design defect that they are pawning off on their customers as "Their fault, its environmental"

They would never win this case in court.

Hey, Lucky:

I'm in the same boat you're in. I have 2010 27" iMac that is barely two months out of warranty. It has started displaying the grey smudges on the upper right hand of the screen. I neglected to get AppleCare as I put my trust in Apple's rep for great hardware.

I called up Apple Corporate directly and asked for someone in the Customer Relations department. I politely but firmly explained that I was fairly disappointed in the build quality of the machine. I spent a lot of money on this iMac and was upset that it was starting to fall apart after barely a year.

To Apple's credit, the woman I spoke with arranged a repair at my local Apple Store and waived all costs. While I'm not thrilled at the screen breaking down so quickly, I'm very pleased that Apple worked with me on this issue.

I'm coming away from this experience with a few observations:

1. If you buy an Apple product with a built-in screen, get AppleCare. My experience (based on two iPods, a PowerBook and this iMac) is that you'll need it at one point.

2. If you're out-of-warranty, try calling Customer Relations at Apple Corporate. The worst they're going to do is say "no." As with dealing with any customer service reps, the key is to not be an ***. You're justified to be upset, but the person on the other end of the phone didn't build your computer. Don't take it on them.

I'm very appreciative that Apple is making this effort, but I have to admit I'm concerned that the fix won't take. This is a one time only gesture I'm receiving. We'll see what happens when I get the iMac back.

Thank you, this is somewhat reassuring, I'll try that. I've been VERY polite (didn't get upset with anybody) but firm in explaining that I'm disappointed by the lack of quality of a very expensive product (top of the line i7). The people at the store said they understand but their hands are tied if corporate doesn't recognize the problem and issues an extension for that kind of problems.

I feel that even if I get my way with them, the idea that there's people that get lucky and people that doesn't is incredibly unfair, everybody's money is just as good, treating your customers differently is the worst thing you can do from the point of view of customer experience and Apple is supposed to be the top in this game.

Essentially, I just expect Apple to be the "it just works" company I learned to love and I expect them to deliver on that, otherwise I would be buying Dell or HP.

By the way, are you in the US?

I agree with you inifinity percent. While I'm happy that Apple is helping me out, I never wanted to have to make this call in the first place. As expensive as Apple's gear is, the monitors on the iMacs should be more durable than this. With any luck, this will be my first and last experience with this issue.

Hopefully, the Customer Relations department will do the right thing by you. I fully understand your frustration. Best of luck.

BTW, I am in the US. Unless I owe you money; in that case, I'm a citizen of Freedonia.

Hi,

I've got the same issues (greyish spots) on my 27" Imac bought late december 2009.

I discovered the problem something like 3 months ago by using the full screen feature of Lion Mac OSX.

For now, I have been to an Apple Store to know if Apple was aware of the problem and if something was planned for my out-of-warranty Imac. It appeared that they were really reluctant at first to give me any information concerning this problem.

After speaking longer, having them confident in me not to make a fuss, they finally admitted they had at least one Imac presenting the same problem IN the Apple Store (which of course was upstairs in a closed room).

I have also contacted Express Lane which seems quite busy working on that problem because they are still making me wait after more than 1 month exchanging emails with a technicien => they definitely don't want to say "no" quickly...which could be something good finally. They also asked me to provide them with pictures of my screens

I think people should contact the same way Express Lane to let them know how spreadfull is this problem.

I have also signed up to different petitions that we can meet on the internet of course...a global action seems unavoidable.

I'm having these exact same issues.

Taken on Sept 9, 2011: http://cl.ly/CLi8 & http://cl.ly/CL5x when I first started notcing them.

Taken today: http://cl.ly/CLoq & http://cl.ly/CJSF

See the big diffrent in just 3 months? It was only showing up as 2 lines on the right side of my screen - now its showing up all over the screen.

The shots taken today were done by first cleaning the exterior glass of my iMac (I've NEVER taken my iMac apart) so as to make sure no smudges were finger prints. I then opened Pixelmator and made it fulll screen (I run Lion) and set it to a gray background as I find that colors maes the smudges show up best.

I never purchased Apple Care. I only purchase Apple Care on my mobile devices, not my desktops. I guess that will teach me to assume Apple doesn't make bad products.

I've had my LCD panel replaced twice and had the entire iMac replaced once. Today I noticed the problem has returned. Here is a summary of what I've gone through with this problem:

- I originally purchased a 27" iMac in February, 2010. I included an 8 GB RAM upgrade and an Apple Care plan.
- In mid 2010 I noticed a "watermark-like stain, almost a wet smudge" appear on the screen. Apple of Albuquerque replaced the LCD panel immediately.
- Around September of 2010 the problem returned. Apple of Albuquerque again replaced the LCD panel.

- In June of 2011 the problem returned for the third time. I had moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the local Apple store replaced the entire system...reluctantly...with much accusation, insinuation, snide remarks and condescension.
- In addition, when I asked them to make sure they included the 8 GB of RAM in the system they lied. Upon returning home I noticed the new iMac only had 4 GB of RAM. When I called them the person on the phone insisted he personally put the 8 GB in my system and that it probably wasn't seated correctly. The problem with this very dumb lie is that I own a screwdriver (perhaps you've heard of the tool?) and it takes less than 30 seconds to verify this Apple employee's claim. What did I find? 2 sticks of 2 GB RAM.
- I informed Apple's Mayfair Mall store of this "error" and they agreed to resolve the problem. I also insisted they upgrade me to 16 GB of RAM for having inconvenienced me. They balked so I repeated all the above events. I said "I paid for a premium product and so far I've had a lousy experience with it. Lying to me was the anvil that broke the camel's back." They agreed to the 16 GB upgrade.

- This week the problem reappeared. I'm now preparing myself for the onslaught of nastiness I'll experience when I walk into the Mayfair Mall Apple Store.

I've lost roughly 2 work weeks because of this problem. That's real money to me. I'm a graphic designer & photographer. I cannot afford to be without a computer. Apple, I hope you are listening...I bought the iMac because I needed something that was reliable. I paid a premium for that promise. I've been a customer of yours since the Apple IIe. And all you've done in the last two years is treat me like a customer of Dell.

I'll replace the LCD panel again...but what is the point? Clearly, you do not care to actually solve the problem. In 4-6 months the smudges will reappear. At that point my Apple Care will expire. And I'll be stuck with the world's most expensive stain.

I want a permanent solution to this problem, Apple. I've been a customer of yours since the Apple IIe. Right now I feel like the foolish fanboy PC users describe. You've burned me and you've severely damaged my relationship with your company.