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[GUIDE] Fix iMac flickering and dark screen problems out of warranty

If you have a Late 2009 27" iMac and are having problems with those annoying problems of flickering and parts of your screen are becoming darker (On the left side primary) you may want to consider this easy guide to fix it if you run out of warranty, have no Apple Care and Apple wanted to charge you about $600 to replace your screen. You need no tools and the cost os this procedure is 0.

First Step: Be sure that you are experiencing the same symptoms

This guide is only to resolve flickering and dimming problems on you iMac screen. Primary occurring on the left side (becoming darker or with less brightness than the other side) and on Late 2009 27" iMacs but there are cases of the same problem on later computers too.

Check/Read all of these posts to know if your case is the same:

Thanks to the findings of nicholasfromconfolens we know that the problem resides in some parts of the screen getting loose for any reason (factory problem, heat, whatever) and if you apply pressure at certain point the flickering/dimming/darking disappears. The problem is that you need to maintain that pressure all the time.

Second Step: Find the correct spot to apply pressure

Without removing the glass panel of the iMac, try to press it strong enough (but don't use excessive force or you could break it) near the bottom left part to see if the dark/flickering disappears at some point. If it does, you are lucky, your problem has easy solution and you can proceed to the next step. If not, don't despair, your glass panel may be very strong and you will need to remove it to apply pressure. Head to the next step.

Third Step: Removing the glass panel

It is recommended to use suction cups to make this task more easily but it's not mandatory, you can remove the glass with your hands. The glass panel uses magnets to get in place all around and has some flaps on the bottom part. To remove it you need to hold it from the upper right and left corners and make force towards you, once it get loose just elevate it to remove the bottom flaps from its holes. You can follow these links with guides that clarifies this a bit more:

Fourth Step: Pinpoint the correct spot to press and place something to maintain the pressure

Once the glass panel has been removed, you must find where is the best point to apply pressure to get rid of the dimming/darking/flickering. The most common point is the left side between the rubber band of the screen and the grey band below. (See the photos for better understanding).

Once you find the best spot, you need to place there something to increase the thickness in that point and to maintain pressure when the glass panel is mounted again. I suggest you to use a pair of adhesive strips/pads mounted one over the other made of rubber or textile material that are used to put under furniture (chairs, tables) to prevent them to scratch the floor (I don't know the exact name in English, sorry).

Fifth Step: Mount the glass panel again

Mount the glass panel again and see if the pressure is enough to prevent the problem appearing again. If not, you should dismount the glass panel again and add more thickness to the "critical" spot adding more pads, but beware, add them gradually or the pressure may be excessive and break the glass when you remount it.

Final Step:

Enjoy your "new" screen and the saving of nearly $600 on repair costs.

Here below you can fin some photos and a video of my "set-up" to fix the problem.

iMac 27" (Late 2009) Flickering And Dark Screen Fix (VIDEO)

I hope this guide helps you. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4), No tools required

Posted on Jun 19, 2012 8:37 AM

Top-ranking reply

Kaos2K Author

Level 1

1 points

Posted on Jun 22, 2012 11:44 AM

Ok. I think i have found the real root of the problem that causes all this flickering and darneking on the screen and why applying pressure works sometimes but it's not a permanent solution

There is a LED connector on the rear side of the screen (You need to remove the display from your mac to access it) located at the lower right corner (left corner if you look at the screen from the front) that may be causing all this trouble. It is hidden beneath the sticky silver paper and adhesive strips. The pins of this connector (both board or cable ends) may be loose, broken or not well soldered due to the stress, heat or whatever. This causes that power is not reaching the LED lights on that part of the screen and therefore, the dark corner and flickering when they are making contact and suddenly they are not.

I removed the connector completely, connected the screen again and power up the iMac and guess what? It booted up correctly with no errors but with the dark corner being permanent.

The solution is to fix the connector by soldering it correctly (maybe just a small push would solve it for you) or soldering the cables directly to the 6 points needed (The bigger two of the sides appears to be just physical anchorage for the connector). I'm currently doing that now. I'll update this entry with my results.

Meanwhile you can you can watch this video/photos i have just uploaded for you to see:

[VIDEO] iMac 27" (Late 2009) Flickering And Dark Screen. Faulty connector in LCD-LED.

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186 replies

Jan 16, 2013 5:32 PM in response to Kaos2K

Well although this issue is a known problem I was unwilling to make the attempt given the cost of fixing the issue. I have read posts from 2009 to present postings showing Apple knowingly has been denying the issue based on the failure happening outside warranty. I just dropped the Mac off at the store with the sticker shock of the $600 price tag. Pushing on the screen didn't work from the outside case. Why wouldn't apple just go back to Samsung and say anti up and just make good on a defective product. When has it been ok to pay for something more than once by shortening the warranty. Where the heck has pride and quality gone. I converted to Mac from windows and still do not regret the change but I never had a monitor go out in 11 years.

Make it right should be the battle cry not pay up. Lastly if I hear you should of bought extended warranty from another apple person I will just walk out. If we are going to sell additional coverage than make the warranty longer and cover those hard to get parts later. When systems are in production the price of the units are low given volume. Later those parts cost more to get because of lower volumes. So pay now for availability later. No part should cost more than 10% of the purchase cost.

Feb 5, 2013 10:15 AM in response to jeff wai ng

That is a fantastic idea to bend the white teeth a little. Great stuff.

It sounds like a hard job to get the white plug out -- you had to cut it eh ?

Thanks for that info.

It's true we all owe KAOS a huge vote of thanks.

Apple 0, Kaos 1 !!

yurikg1

Level 1

0 points

Feb 25, 2013 4:12 AM in response to Kaos2K

Hey guys,

I've got the same problem with my late 2009 iMac and I tried to follow the instructions from this thread - applying pressure on plug helped for only 2 days, then I decided to give a try with soldering option, but this place is TINY, I don't even know which soldering gun could be suitable for this, I bought one with pretty small coppe-bit, but it didn't helped. I made a big mistake by cutting the black cable (in order to connect it this with soldered cables) but it was too early. So I tried soldered it back and tried the solution with bent pins but it didn't help eirther :-(

I asked a couple of friends here in Munich, who even repair Macs, but nobody knows how to solder in this place, and workshops refuse to solder it, they say that only option to solder is, to disassemble the casing, but it's to much work for them.

Could you give me at least some hints how you did the soldering, it's actually the last option left for me, apart from buying the new LCD panel (and the new LCD panel will have potentially the same issue!).

Thank you in advance,

Yuriy

MobaLA

Level 1

0 points

Mar 5, 2013 12:14 PM in response to Kaos2K

I have this problem with a 2011 iMac and tried to solder some cables to the connectors. Now it behaves strange: After booting the login screen appears with the same brightness all over the screen, even the left part works. But about 1 second later it just goes off and remains dark. Everything appears to be running correctly, only the backlight goes off.

Did anyone already had this problem?

Maybe I connected 2 cables by mistake but I couldn't find them yet.

Kaos2K Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 14, 2013 4:22 AM in response to John-Paul May

Wow! I'm glad you finally fixed the screen 😉.

As for the black connector variant you pointed in the MacRumors forum. I can't really notice if the "pin-out" is the same as on the white one. If it is the same, a quick cut and soldering eliminates the need to replace the whole board 😝.

Apr 6, 2013 2:27 PM in response to cYrEaD

So glad to hear you got satisfaction !!!

It ***** that their response is so erratic .. they seem to be giving in more and more. Congrats.

the new screen is awesome huh? 🙂 Hurts my eyes it is so bright.

yurikg1

Level 1

0 points

Apr 7, 2013 3:56 AM in response to Kaos2K

I also tried to solder myself and Kaos even recommended the appropriate tool but I didn't succeed. So it's really frustrating, I asked many workshops here in Munich, but nobody want to solder.

And it's very hard to find appropriate replacement lcd (LM270WQ1 A2), Apple doesn't sell replacement parts to individuals (why not?) and neither the serivice providers do. And I'm sort of wary of buying some A/B-grades repaired parts from eBay.

I know that it's not the place for these sort of complaints, but this iMac has quite a bunch of issues and Apple's feedback is just frustrating, the lcd issue was very well known and a lot of people are affected, I paid 2.000 euros for this machine and after more of 10 years Mac experience it's definitely the last iMac and maybe the last Apple computer I bought...

Kaos2K Author

Level 1

1 points

Apr 7, 2013 4:50 AM in response to yurikg1

I'm sorry to hear that yurikg1. It is really difficult to find a store or workshop that wants to be involved in such delicate task and even if they do, the cost would be high. In my case, the fix took me a few hours but i think it worths the time.

Before attempting the fix i was looking replacement LCDs from eBay but the cost was prohibitive (350-400e + shipping) but still cheaper than Apple's official "fare" to get this fixed. John-Paul May was very lucky finding that panel at that low price 🙂. Maybe you can keep searching for spare parts until you get one that fits your needs.

Vali31

Level 1

5 points

Apr 21, 2013 12:40 AM in response to Kaos2K

so there is no recall afterall? my mid 2011 imac its starting to give signs aswell .. half screen getting a lil bit more darker than the right screen..

Why so many ppl have to complain about a problem and after 1-2-3 years apple to solve this.. u sped a fortune on a cool box outside and so much junk inside (no offence) . I had no recall for my stupid hdd drive and make that grumbling noise... and now.. the screen gets darker .. How its that possible after u spend 2000 euros on a **** mac??

Apr 25, 2013 4:32 AM in response to Vali31

Hello,

I too am having the EXACT same problem on my 18-month old 2011 iMac27 (in Spain). It started with a flickering left side and now the left side is much darker than the right side.

At the Mac store, they basically told me I'm s*** out of luck and that I'd need to pay for a brand new screen.

I'm afraid to open the iMac case to fix it because I have no idea how to solder...

Really frustrating how Apple is handling this. It is clearly a KNOWN ISSUE and they should offer a recall for those suffering from it.

I'm a long-time Mac user (I've had a mac since 1994) and have never had a complaint about Apple quality OR support. But they are really dropping the ball with their response to this issue...

Any advice out there?

Apr 25, 2013 6:51 AM in response to Kaos2K

Gracias Kaos2K! I am near Barcelona...

I think the forum does not allow emails, because I got <Email Edited By Host> below your text.

I appreciate your offer for help! You rock! Let me know how we can connect and I'll definitely be in touch 🙂

May 1, 2013 11:09 AM in response to Kaos2K

Good day to all of you!

I have the same problem and my extended warranty just expired last Feb 2013. Early 2012 the same thing happened to my iMac and they replaced the LED display. Last week it happened again and i was so very upset, i went to the Apple Store and talked to one of the representative and i just told them about this thread and express my concerns regarding about the issue. They told told me that they are going to fix and replace the display for FREE, but the thing is the part is out of stock and not sure when it will become available.

Good luck to you guys and thanks!

Kaos2K Author

Level 1

1 points

May 5, 2013 11:49 PM in response to Pearte3h

I'm copying you some tips i wrote to reply another user, might be helful for you too:

I used a JBC 14ST soldering iron to do it.

The best technique to solder in that tiny hole (apart from doing it with magnifiying glass that is a must) is to try to remove as much of the white plastic as you can, to make room for your soldering iron. I did it by cutting the plastic with a lighter-heated knife until i felt "confortable" to work in that space.

Another useful tip is to apply a tiny drop of solder/tin in both the 6 board connectors and in each cable/wrapping wire you are going to use to solder to them. Then, with a lot patience, start heating the cables/connectors with the tip of your soldering iron as much closer of the tin drops as you can.

It's hard but not impossible.

Another way to avoid soldering is to dissasemble the whole screen and realign the connector. There are some users out there that fixed it this way but it requires more time.

tfcb93

Level 1

0 points

May 18, 2013 9:54 AM in response to Kaos2K

I have the same problem. This start at final of 2012, one year after I get the Mac. My iMac is French (bought in a travel), but I live in Brazil and I don't have apple care. So I called to apple support and they sad I was at the HD recall. I got a new HD, but the problems continues. I don't know soldering and doesn't have R$3000 (aprox. US$ 1500) to get a new screen, and Apple support is not so good at where I live.

Sorry my bad english.

Jul 7, 2013 6:57 AM in response to Kaos2K

This is really a great post, thank you to all having writtem into it. Since a couple of days my 27" iMac Late 2009 had the flickering issue, too, and today first time the screen entirely went black. Fortunately a restart from sleep mode brought the screen back, but now it shows the "lower left side darker" syndrom, as described and shown up here. I don't think that my local Apple retailer will be able to help me other than selling a costly repair action.... Maybe I will give it a try to fix it in my own. Keep your fingers crossed :-)

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[GUIDE] Fix iMac flickering and dark screen problems out of warranty