Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

Turning on my 2009 IMac today I detected a grayish cloud in the screen. When you looked at the screen from the side the afflicted area was white. Fearing the worst I did a search and came across this thread. I have had the computer powered down for three days while traveling. During this time southern NM has received more rain in a three day period than we have had in years. Yes there is an extreme drought in the desert southwest.

I have now had the computer on for about two hours and to my delight the dark cloud was gradually shrinking and is now totally gone. My guess is the screen had captured moisture while being powered down and now that it’s powered up the unit is generating heat in the box has evaporated the moisture.

I hope this helps someone. Thank God for small miracles, the rain that is. 😉

I have a early 2009 24" iMac that I purchased used 2 years ago. I too noticed these smudgy marks on my screen a few days ago. I did some searching around and finally found this ginormous thread with a gazillion posts about this same issue. When I read about how much this repair would cost out of warranty I decided that I would just have to live with it. For the hundreds of dollars in repairs I thought it would be better spent on a new iMac. Besides, I had started having problems with the spinning rainbow of death becoming a long time visitor on my screen so I was figuring it was just time for a replacement anyway.

Well a few days ago I got an advertisement email from SquareTrade and went to their site. I logged in and to my amasement realized that I HAD bought a warranty on my iMac when I purchased it off of ebay. Get this, the warranty expires in less than 30 days. So I made a claim online Wednesday, they called me Thursday and discussed the issue and are sending a technician to my home this coming Tuesday to replace the screen. This repair will cost me zero for a warranty that I paid $120 for 2 years ago.

So I lucked out on this by the hair of my chinny chin chin because if I had waited I would have been SOL. The only issue I see is that this seems to be a "recurring" problem after the repair as well. So I'm going to watch the technician take the screen off in case I have to do it again myself to clean it.

This doesn't sit well with me since I have everything Apple (iPads, iPhones, MBP's and a iMac). When I made the switch 3 years ago I made everyone in the household go Apple each with our own devices. I was seriously entertaining a new iMac but I read in another forum reports of how even the brand new ones are having this issue.

This HAS to be a known quality issue with Apple, but if they don't step up thier quality problems, they might as well change their name from Apple to Lemon.

Here are some pics of my screen:

Hi rhaneny, you are indeed fortunate! However, I believe the only way to remedy this problem is to actually change out the LCD screen, so if you want to do that youreself, you will still be on the hook for the purchase of the screen. I think the cost is substantial.

I also have the same year of iMac and seem to be stuck with it. I will never buy another iMac as long as this problem exists. Funny, it's only the iMacs and not the notebooks that seem to have this issue.

I am so upset with Apple words cannot be put to page here.

krcolson wrote:

Hi rhaneny, you are indeed fortunate! However, I believe the only way to remedy this problem is to actually change out the LCD screen, so if you want to do that youreself, you will still be on the hook for the purchase of the screen. I think the cost is substantial.

I also have the same year of iMac and seem to be stuck with it. I will never buy another iMac as long as this problem exists. Funny, it's only the iMacs and not the notebooks that seem to have this issue.

I am so upset with Apple words cannot be put to page here.

Not sure I quite understand what you're saying. Is there a difference between the front screen and the LCD screen? I am soo not mechanically inclined when it comes to this stuff..LOL!!!

If there is a difference then I hope that it is the LCD screen like you say. Replacing the glass when it can just probably be wiped off wouldn't help the problem and would more than likely reappear before too long.

Hi rhaneny, The piece of plexi glass you can touch is just a protection for the actual Liquid Quartz Display. You can take a small suction cup, like one you would have in a sun catcher or a bath tub device and stick it to the plexi glass and pull it off. It is held there by strong magnets. Once off, if you can wipe off the smudges on the back side of the plexi glass then your problem is solved, however once removed and you can still see the marks, then they are imbedded into the display itself and impossible to wipe off. Therefore, the only solution is to replace this display. That is the dilema for most of us with this problem and is the part Apple is refusing to admit is a design flaw as particles are being drawn into the display as a result of inadaquate sealing. They will likely replace it with the same "unsealed" unit as you have now, resulting in future issues.

Good luck with the repair. You are fortunate to have them come to your house to do this. Maybe you will be lucky and won't have any more problems. Let's hope. Many of us would have to take it to an Apple Store and wait weeks to get it back.

krcolson wrote:

Hi rhaneny, The piece of plexi glass you can touch is just a protection for the actual Liquid Quartz Display. You can take a small suction cup, like one you would have in a sun catcher or a bath tub device and stick it to the plexi glass and pull it off. It is held there by strong magnets. Once off, if you can wipe off the smudges on the back side of the plexi glass then your problem is solved, however once removed and you can still see the marks, then they are imbedded into the display itself and impossible to wipe off. Therefore, the only solution is to replace this display. That is the dilema for most of us with this problem and is the part Apple is refusing to admit is a design flaw as particles are being drawn into the display as a result of inadaquate sealing. They will likely replace it with the same "unsealed" unit as you have now, resulting in future issues.

Good luck with the repair. You are fortunate to have them come to your house to do this. Maybe you will be lucky and won't have any more problems. Let's hope. Many of us would have to take it to an Apple Store and wait weeks to get it back.

Ohhhh I see, they are two different things. Silly me 😊. Well, when I told SquareTrade what the problem was they said that they were going to send the parts Fedex to my home for when the technician arrives. So that sounds like according to your description a new LCD (hopefully!!). I can't imagine that they would just replace the plexi glass then. Well my fingers are crossed for the LCD so I'll check back in and let you know what happened later this week.

BTW, I read some stories about people placing clear tape over the edges of their screens. Don't know how feasible that is but maybe its working out for some people.

Hello all,

About 6 months ago I noticed this 'smudgey' problem with my imac. After reading through here I sympathised with others realising it was a pretty common problem!

Many posters are correct (at least my case) that it is from dust/moisture getting into under the screen - a design flaw from the intake fan sucking in particles and them getting trapped. When the screen heats up and condensation occurs - it's basically what happens with your car.

However, being under AppleCare, Apple sent a registered technician to my house to replace the entire display. I appreciate Apple looking after its customers (as that would not be cheap!) but it is unfortunate that such a small flaw is causing so much trouble! It really does render the display unusable for a certain period of time until the moisture/dust subsides. I would have the problem occur quite frequently.

With this knowledge, I realised that it would only be a matter of time until the problem occurred again - as in my case, it is not a problem with the screen - but a problem with the design - and therein lies the problem. Thus I sold my iMac and bought a mini & 27" separate screen. This was the best solution for me.

Goodluck to all those affected, and hopefully Apple will propose a solution (dust filter?) as i can't see replacing those affected screens to be very viable.

Hi IMac users,

I just noticed a small smudge on the lower left section of my 21.5 IMac screen and found this post. I have already sent Apple a feedback report. Just want to keep up with these post. Like Hey Ryan, I live in the Philippines.

Add me to the growing list. I noticed my mid-2010 27" i7 iMac had smudges across the bottom of the screen after having the wifi card replaced at the Apple Store. I thought it was caused by dirty tech fingers until yesterday I noticed a streak had appeared running down the right side. Still have a couple of months left of AppleCare.

Same here on my new iMac 27" Thunderbolt which I bought less than 6 months ago, in April: both lower left and lower right corner suddenly started showing smudges. I don't smoke and the room where my iMac stands is cleaned frequently to remove dust etc... so I really do not know what could have caused this.

Just like you Holamesilla I had EXACTLY the same problem which thankfully vanished after about an hour of switching the iMAC on. It was a very wet day and quite cold so I think it might have been condensation.

I have had the screen replaced already about a year ago for numerous grey blobs all over the screen which seems to be what others are complaining about. I had to take it back three months later as the top of the screen was flickering but Apple were unable to find a problem - its been fine ever since until my panic yesterday.

Jimafblack, I was starting to think my problem and eventually solution as an anomaly. Glad to hear you also had a favorable outcome. Since my original post from over a month ago I have had no reoccurring problems. It has also been dry over the period and the unit has remained powered up.

Hi,

I have recently had the same problem with my 27 inch iMac display. Fortunately my protection plan was still in place. They sent a tech to my house and what he told me was that the LCD display is "bleeding" and had to be replaced. They replaced the LCD display as well as the protective glass. He had no real other explanation for it other than what I described above. My suggestion would be to if you don't already have AppleCare in place, go ahead and purchase it if you can and either take it into an Apple Store or see if you can have them come out for an in-home service call. Otherwise, basically you're looking at $750 for the LCD display and another $100 for the glass.

Good luck,

Jeff

In case anyone is interested - I had the dreaded grey smudge marks on my iMac - the machine is nearly 3 years old. I took it to the local Genius bar where an assistant tested it, told me it was a quality issue and the screen would be changed under the quality programme. I picked up the machine today and the new screen is great - the problem has been fixed. So I am very pleased with the Apple customer service.

Eurodriver7,

How long did the repair take? And what city are you in?

Thanks!