Vertical ant line across display

Question

Vertical ant line across display

Hello,

I started noticing what I describe as ant-lines running vertically across my late 2009 27" iMac. I am fairly certain that they were not there before but I can't really remember. I did a search and found some discussions regrading video issues and vertical line anomalies but none like what I am seeing.

See these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2apyV_V8TM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmh_l1oh0Zc

It's noticable from a distance of about 2 feet and closer. It's not visible on white or black but midtones is where I see it. It gets really distracting at about 20" and closer, especially in iPhoto when scrolling through photos.

Has anyone else seen anything like this and do you guys think I will have any luck getting something like this fixed with a Genius appointment? I do still have AppleCare.

Thanks!

iMac i7 27, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Apr 19, 2012 8:03 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,418 points

Apr 19, 2012 8:17 PM in response to Cristofer Cruz

Give AppleCare a call immediately.

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Answer 2

Apr 20, 2012 10:10 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks I will definately go in, I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was normal or not. Hopefully I won't have trouble getting it fixed under AppleCare.

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,418 points

Apr 20, 2012 10:47 AM in response to Cristofer Cruz

They will take care of you.

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Answer 4

Oct 23, 2013 1:08 PM in response to Cristofer Cruz

Cristofer,

What was the outcome?

I think I'm having the very same issue on the very same model; but I'm no longer under AC. The youtube links are no longer valid but I caught the phenomenon on video, too: see

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2496393/IMG_0078.MOV

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Answer 5

Oct 23, 2013 2:53 PM in response to Veikko Immonen

Hi Veikko,

At the time, my iMac was still under the extended AppleCare warranty. I took it into the Apple Store and they ended up replacing the LCD unit. That immediately solved the problem.

It's now a little over a year since the replacement and I am beginning to see the same issue once more. I think it's a form of wear on the LCD. I do Graphic Design so I'm running my machine quite continuously. I suppose this issue might not happen as quickly on machines that are run every once in a while and then turned off.

My iMac is a late 2009 model and it's now out of warranty so I'll likely end up purchasing a new model sometime down the road rather than paying for another LCD replacement.

Hope this helps.

-Cristofer

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Answer 6

Oct 23, 2013 3:24 PM in response to Cristofer Cruz

Thanks!

This confirms that it's not some random fluke, but more systematic. Maybe Apple would like to take mine for further study to get to the bottom of this phenomenon - to understand what's happening in order to avoid such problems in future hardware. I'll post later how things progress - probably I'm not ready to pay for an LCD replacement either.

For reference, I'm "seeing ants" in groups of 4 lines, with a separation of 9,4 mm (approx 40 px) between lines and 74,4 mm (approx 320 px) between groups (from leftmost line to leftmost line). Also, the leftmost line of ants is the exact same distance from the edge of the screen as the rightmost one (23,3 mm or so). This regularity & symmetry would suggest that the problem isn't in the panel itself, but somewhere in the control electronics. Also, if (as you say and I think I too have seen) the problem appears gradually, a software problem can be pretty much ruled out.

If by any chance you could catch the issue on your current unit on camera, it would be interesting to compare - whether it's identical or different!

Thanks again,

-Veikko

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