Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

The name of this discussion thread is

Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen

The operative words being "glass" and "behind".

If the problem was simply crud collecting behind the "plastic" bit i.e. on the front surface of the LCD panel, then this thread would have died long ago. However, as Dan said, the vast majority of posts are from people suffering from an innate flaw in the iMac whereby crud gets "behind the glass" between the backlight and LCD.

Now, I know a lot of users out there are big techies and are not afraid to perform major surgery on their 1400 quid iMacs, but some of us just want to buy and use, not have to take the thing apart to attempt to remedy something that should not happen in the first place.

Thanks for clarifying that. That this isn't something that you just clean. And I certainly expect after spending $3000 on a computer that I wouldn't need to fuss with popping off its screen, etc., etc. Please!

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

Please try not to be nasty with me again 😟 after all it is nearly Christmas! 🙂

😉

😉

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!

http://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/04/05/investigation-of-the-marks-on-the-imac-sc reen

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.