Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

Yes. Here's why, heat. I run a 3rd party fan controller an I forgot to turn it on while playing a full screen game. Once the internal temperature gets to around 160°F you will start doing permanent damage to the screen that causes though streaks. Use a free program called SMCfan controller and just jack the fans to Mac an leave them on 100% of the time. It may be loud but it's better than a trashed screen. If the glass in the front of you iMac is warm to the touch it is too hot and you are risking damage to the screen.

My iMac inst hot at all. Im using SMCfan controller, and at the lowest setting the temperature is around 35°C/95°F. Im still thinking that the issue is being caused by dust thats inside the LCD and its a design error by Apple.

I have a late 2009 21.5" iMac and have just started to see "smudges on my screen", but I am not sure it is the same problem that you guys are seeing.

The marks are certainly grey but close up they look like thin tree (fractal) patterns.

These are definitely in the LCD because if I remeve the front glass they are still there.

To me (an ex-physicist) and my Bio-Chem daughter these look like crystal patterns, and we are expecting these to be the start of crystal breakdown which will get progreessively worse.

Is this what you guys are seeing?

igs

I'm convinced this is absolutely not a dust or environmental issue. If you read much earlier comments, people actually got in touch with their computer repair friends and asked about this iMac issue. They stated it has to do with the heat of the unit actually bursting cells in the LCD. The LCD is not properly shielded and it is way too close to the the rest of the heat-emitting hardware. And it is all stuffed in a very small space.

The only way to fix the issue is to totally redesign the iMac. It won't matter if you have Applecare or not. It will eventually expire, and you will no longer get free screen replacements. Apple hasn't officially acknowledged the problem. They have only blamed users for placing their machines in bad environments. This has been debunked by several Mac owners on these boards who have absolutely pristine office spaces. I implore people to please stay away from iMacs until Apple re-designs the hardware. I wish they will offer some sort of trade-in when they release new models, but I have a feeling most of us who bought these iMacs will just be stuck with bad machines. There are actions taking place online. I have to say actions, because if you say anything else, Apple with delete your comment. Just google it.

I've emailed several media tech sites, and I still haven't gotten any response. Please contact these blogs and request that they cover this story. Gizmodo covered the yellow screen issue a few years back, but they and others are completely ignoring the grey-smudge issue.

just contacted the Australian New Zealand support and they have never heard of it...plus they can't find any mention of it globally within the Apple support network..I said quite a few people have recently had their screens replaced gratis but they won't support mine to be done. The guy said see if you can get it cheaper by vying the retail sellers off against one another THEN (about online comments re the issue) "you never know what people make up on the threads...internt etc"

then today I get a request to fill in survey about ustomer support...

grrrrr..rrrrowwwffff

Quick summary: I had the notorious grey smudges and brought my iMac into an Apple store. They confirmed the issue and replaced the computer with a new one. I am still under my 1 year manufacturer warranty. This all took place two weeks ago.

Specs: 2011 iMac 27/2.7QC/2X2GB/1TB/6770M

Details:

I purchased my iMac in August 2011. Note that as of this posting I am still under the 1 year manufacturer warranty. A few months ago I started noticing the grey smudges that are so accurately described in the thread. I was hesitant about bringing my iMac to the Apple store, because I was afraid they wouldn’t be any help and I would end up getting put off. Lucky for me, the nearest Apple store is within walking distance of my place. So I finally made the genius bar appointment and brought it in. After being met with, I described the problem and the iMac was taken into the back. After a bit the rep came back out and said they see what I am talking about and they think the “Pixels are dying”, I said okay… (There was no point in arguing with him, I think its dust but I really can’t say definitively what it is or why it is.) The rep went into the back room again and when he came back he started asking when I bought the computer. I told him the exact date and he pointed out that it is under the 1 year warranty so they should be able to fix it for free. He left again and when he came back he started asking very specifically “When did you first notice this issue”, I was hesitant to just blurt out an estimate, because in situations like this there is normally a right and wrong answer. I said that I can’t be sure exactly when I first saw it, because for a while I was mistaking it for a smudge on the glass. I asked him why the exact time I first saw it was important. He said that if I saw it within the first four months of buying they would have to replace the whole computer, if I saw it after that, they would send it in for repair. Hearing that, I responded by saying that it was definitely within the first four months, but I am not sure of the exact day. He didn’t have a problem with that, and said regardless, this is not the first time they have seen this issue and that Apple is interested in ‘Capturing’ the computers that are displaying the problem for further examination. I ended up bringing my computer back home before turning it in, so that I could take a full backup and write zero’s to the HD. When I brought it back they swapped it out for a new, still in the box iMac 27/2.7QC. I even got a new mouse and keyboard out of it as I had not turned mine in. In order to corroborate this story, I am considering uploading a copy of my genius bar receipt, and a work order receipt that I made the rep write up stating that they were going to replace the machine. If anyone is interested let me know.

I can't be sure of the exact cause of the issue (and it may be different for different people), but if I had to bet, it would be on something dust related, but related to heat. In my case, the mark was a movable feast - sometimes it was hardly visible, but seemed to get worse after prolonged use. For a while I found it distracting, but maybe not worth the hassle of doing much about if it meant a reasonable amount of downtime, trips to stores, no guarantee of anything being done.

But here in the UK we had a very hot week a few weeks ago, and it got really bad. It was mostly a random, jagged line that looked a bit like an internal crack, but it did seem to fluctuate, and was sometimes dead straight.

I've posted a couple of pics on Flickr, one straight, and one at its worst:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/macavity2012/

So to me the best guess is that dust is maybe not being dispersed as efficiently as it could be, and that due to airflows within the machine, it somehow causes dust particles to accumulate in and around a particular place.

As for criteria for getting it fixed out of warranty - not sure if its now being internally recognised (reports of engineers wanting machines for inspection suggest perhaps it has, or some other factor (luck?) I don't know.

In my case I had previous issues with two deas Time Capsules, and fired off a specultive email to Tim Cook expressing disappointment that two had failed. So I emailed again about this, referring to the problem Time Capsultes too. Of course I didn't expect to get a reply, but did hear back from Apple asking for more details. I emailed some pics, and they got me to take it in to an authorised dealer. Once they confirmed to Apple that it was not a physical crack, they authroised the replacement LCD panel even though the iMac was two years old and a year out of warranty.

"In my case I had previous issues with two deas Time Capsules, and fired off a specultive email to Tim Cook expressing disappointment that two had failed. So I emailed again about this, referring to the problem Time Capsultes too. Of course I didn't expect to get a reply, but did hear back from Apple asking for more details. I emailed some pics, and they got me to take it in to an authorised dealer. Once they confirmed to Apple that it was not a physical crack, they authroised the replacement LCD panel even though the iMac was two years old and a year out of warranty."

Iain,

could you please tell me who is Tim Cook and how do I contact him? This ad hoc approach by Apple is appalling. Why do some places approve replacement even 2 years out of warranty and others not? My machine also had the issue start within the first few months of purchase but I thought our cleaner had spilled fluid on it..found out not the case and came here too late after warranty 18 months ago...

thank you

Judith

Hi,

Tim Cook is now the CEO. The VP for hardware, by the way, announced few days ago that he is retiring this year.

It looks like Apple is quietly acknowledging the issue and trying to help. I put my pictures of the disassembled screen with a few things to which I wanted to draw your attention. But before we go there...

As I wrote before, I fixed two iMacs in a local store for $100 each. Guys told me that the problem is with the seams on the edges of the screen not being sealed properly. They peeled off the back of the screen, cleaned the inside and re-sealed it back. The dust inside consists of the tiniest particles only (that's probably why Apple insists that the damage is caused by smoking although I don't think tobacco ash creates this kind of dust).

All right, you can see "circular" heat spots on the metal cover of the back. That is where fans are located. The smudges seems to appear without any system everywhere but not in the center or angles.

OK look at photobucket.com/iMac_screen_smudges.

Sent from my iPad

On Jul 3, 2012, at 5:39 PM, Apple Support Communities Updates wrote:

Apple Support Communities

Re: Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

created by judithblades in iMac (Intel) - View the full discussion

"In my case I had previous issues with two deas Time Capsules, and fired off a specultive email to Tim Cook expressing disappointment that two had failed. So I emailed again about this, referring to the problem Time Capsultes too. Of course I didn't expect to get a reply, but did hear back from Apple asking for more details. I emailed some pics, and they got me to take it in to an authorised dealer. Once they confirmed to Apple that it was not a physical crack, they authroised the replacement LCD panel even though the iMac was two years old and a year out of warranty."

Iain,

could you please tell me who is Tim Cook and how do I contact him? This ad hoc approach by Apple is appalling. Why do some places approve replacement even 2 years out of warranty and others not? My machine also had the issue start within the first few months of purchase but I thought our cleaner had spilled fluid on it..found out not the case and came here too late after warranty 18 months ago...

thank you

Judith

<Post editied by Host>

Great pics, Antonio999! Thank you for posting the link.

Do you have any photos of the actual "dust" (or whatever it is) inside the LCD? A lot of us have posted our exterior shots that show the screen damage, but I've only seen a handful of photos that show the full LCD disassembly and the actual dust inside. From the looks of it you have some disassembly photos... any chance you captured the "money shot" of the dust?

Thanks!

Is it normal practice to have your HD wiped and clean installed when you get your screen repaired?

I just got mine back - nice and clean, thanks - but I can't even log-in. It now belongs to '***** *****'. ****. His mouse, his keyboard - I can't get rid of it.

Yes, I back up my files as you do, but had I known...

Why didn't the guy say on the phone, "by the way, I'm about to wipe all your programs, local network settings, security software, AppStore downloads, etc., etc., and your admin login", I'd have said no, don't do it!!!

He said I'll clean the screen, not clean install.

Why was this necessary?

I wish I'd never bought the ******** thing...

I don't know....

<Post edited by Host>

I was learning to live with the smudges on my 27" mid-2010 iMac (already had one screen replacement in early 2011), but then the hard drive began to fail a few weeks ago. Since I'm still covered by my purchase of the extended AppleCare protection, it was a no-brainer to get both the screen and hard drive replaced.

Overall it was an extremely painless process for me (again, all under covered warranty). Both the hard drive and screen were no-questions-asked replacements (well, a few questions and a quick hardware diagnostic test, but you get the idea!). I asked the Apple Store Genius who was assisting me if he'd seen the screen issue before, and he replied that he had not personally seen it but he had "heard about it", for what's it worth. The repair itself only took one day since they had all the parts in-stock, which really impressed me.

Between the new hard drive and new screen it feels like a brand new machine to me despite it being just shy of two years old. I recall one thread here mentioned a new inner "bezel" that appeared on a user's iMac after getting a recent screen replacement, and the theory was that this might offer better insulation against dust and other contaminants... I don't notice anything like that on my replacement screen; as far as I can tell it looks exactly the same as my old one (except no smudges of course).

I have this problem on my 27"er. My 1 year, 11 day old imac was taken in today with a potential overheating problem and looks set to have the screen replaced too, due to 'LCD contamination on left hand side of screen'.

I have a new 27" ipad which I bought 3 months ago. I just noticed a grayish smudge in the top right corner. The smudge remains even when the computer is turned off. I tried using a hair dryer on it and the smudge slowly disappeared. I have a 3 year extended warranty from Best Buy. If the smudge comes back and stays I wll take it into Best Buy and have them check it out.

I have been a loyal Apple customer for almost a decade now and think I'm calling it quits after experiencing this issue. I've had my 27" iMac for about ten months now and started noticing these 'burn' marks a few months ago. They recently started spreading fairly rapidly so I decided to take the computer to the Apple store. The genius was pretty up front that this was due to heat and that it would probalby happen again after I get a screen replacement. I have two months left until my warranty is up and I considered having the screen replaced and then immediately selling it on eBay. This idea struck me as dishonest so it looks like I'll be keeping the computer. It's a shame that Apple doesn't find dishonest businss practices as reprehensible as I do. It was very disheartening finding this thread and seeing people complaining about this issue several years ago. I guess I'm going to have to get AppleCare and keep getting the screen replaced whenever the issue reappears. It's a real pain to pack up a 27" iMac and lug it through the mall just to have to wait for them to get the part in and repair it. I was also very upset to find that Apple went out of its way to make it difficult to install an SSD in the iMac. My 3-year-old Macbook Pro that I installed an SSD in is now faster than my i7 iMac. I will, without a doubt, be building my next computer. I still love OSX but I can't deal with the hardware issues. It would be lovely if I could use the large 27" display on my iMac as a monitor for my next computer but of course this is not allowed. I guess I wouldn't want to use it as a monitor anyway considering the burn marks will have completely taken over the display by that point.