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I must retract my praise...new i7 issues. BUYER BEWARE!

U

utahreefer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
6
0
After giving my iMac a great review, I am now having some serious screen issues. The screen has gotten progressively worse as far as a BIG yellow stain growing across the bottom half. And it IS getting bigger. And, FLICKERING.
The screen blinking completely off at times....

I thought getting everything loaded was a huge pain...it has taken 5 days. That were filled with joy until tonight.
so...NO, IT IS NOT SAFE TO PURCHASE AN APPLE IMAC YET!
 
Darn it! Please let us know how your situation develops. I'm waiting until end of Jan to order mine. Hopefully things will be kosher by then.
 
utahreefer said:
The screen has gotten progressively worse as far as a BIG yellow stain growing across the bottom half. And it IS getting bigger. And, FLICKERING.
The screen blinking completely off at times....
Click to expand...
Ugh... just saw those flickerings for the first time yesterday, once on my i5, and a few times on my GFs i5.

Of course, you did apply Apple's Firmware update, didn't you?
 
I have yellow gradient on the bottom of my display, otherwise my i7 seems perfect. I have had it since 11/15. I love using it and I will just wait until I hear there is a fix for the display and then get it repaired. :)

I was just wondering , for those that have flickering issues. Does the flickering occur during the running of certain programs or does it flicker while just showing the desktop ? The reason is , I have not seen any flickering on my 27" i7, and I would like to test it running a program that causes flickering, if there is a certain one. I only use Aperture, CS4, Mail and Safari. The only screen blackout I have had is when using a certain filter in CS4. That filter caused my previous iMac to hang when I used it, so I blame the software on that one.
 
i really want the imac 27, but it does not have usb3, it does not have blu ray.
i really want imac 27, but it has all these hd sound problem, yellow tint, problem with screen.
i really want imac 27, my dick tell me i want it, my brain tell me to build my own computer. yes it going to be ugly, it going to be noisy, but it will have usb 3, blu ray burner, run faster via oc, more ram and bigger screen. i cannot decide. my brain sramble for an answer.
 
ma2ha3 said:
i really want the imac 27, but it does not have usb3, it does not have blu ray.
i really want imac 27, but it has all these hd sound problem, yellow tint, problem with screen.
i really want imac 27, my dick tell me i want it, my brain tell me to build my own computer. yes it going to be ugly, it going to be noisy, but it will have usb 3, blu ray burner, run faster via oc, more ram and bigger screen. i cannot decide. my brain sramble for an answer.
Click to expand...

Ahahahahahahahaha. Just wait for a fix, or possibly a refresh later on. There are hardly any USB 3 devices out yet, and your USB 2 things won't speed up any. If you need speed for now, then just use Firewire. :D
 
Ecoh said:
I was just wondering , for those that have flickering issues. Does the flickering occur during the running of certain programs or does it flicker while just showing the desktop ? The reason is , I have not seen any flickering on my 27" i7, and I would like to test it running a program that causes flickering, if there is a certain one. I only use Aperture, CS4, Mail and Safari. The only screen blackout I have had is when using a certain filter in CS4. That filter caused my previous iMac to hang when I used it, so I blame the software on that one.
Click to expand...

I think your query illustrates an interesting point. It seems like this flicker issue may be the perfect nightmare scenario for engineers. Consider:

In many cases, the flaw manifests itself only after extensive use (days, weeks, months?), often occurring, then spontaneously resolving, only to reoccur later. It doesn't seem to be associated with any particular software, CPU type, CPU activity level, temperature, or GPU (i.e., the flaw's not replicable. In software-land, these kinds of problems can be a real bugger bear.) It even persists in some cases after replacement of various hardware components. I have yet to read an explanation for this problem that sounds satisfyingly plausible--despite the obviously large number of Mac experts who cruise this forum.

It's hard to judge by forum post counts and self-selected surveys, but for the sake of argument let's assume that the defect is affecting perhaps 5 units per hundred. That's large enough to cause an outcry from thousands of angry users, but it's also small enough to slip through standard pre-production testing as well as assembly line quality screening.

In my opinion, Apple engineers have now identified the problem and are retooling production to incorporate the fix. I suspect the problem has nothing to do with Apple engineers being stupid, lazy, or greedy, although I could be wrong. I also suspect Apple will have to extend the standard warranty to cover this defect (if it manifests after 12 months), although I could be wrong about that too.

Anyway, I'm postponing purchase of our two new iMacs, waiting for the online Apple store's estimated shipping times to start dropping and for a wave of 27" refurbs to show up. My strategy seems like a reasonable precaution, unless you just gotta have it now--in which case the worst thing that might happen would be a free repair under warranty.
 
Mine (admittedly a C2D) is on 8-12 hours a day, 7 days a week and gets hard use. It's fine, the white is a crisp white from top to bottom, it doesn't flicker, no dead pixels, nothing.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem, I've seen some faulty units, but there are good ones out there. That's good in a way, because it means its fixable. It's just annoying as heck for those with a faulty unit right now.
 
utahreefer said:
What week is it? I noticed some people mentioning "mine was built week #..." How on earth would you know that? Serial number or something?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's the 3rd and 4th numbers of the serial number. If you click on the Apple icon, go to "About This Mac", then click twice on the "Version 10.6.x" line. Mine starts out "W89476..." so it was built in week 47 of 2009.

My iMac 27" i7 experienced flickering/blackout/screen dislocation problems after applying the firmware update yesterday. This morning I called Apple Support and they asked me to bring it to the local Apple Store. I asked if the video card would need to be replaced, and the tech support person said that most likely the power inverter is to blame and will need to be replaced. This is the first time I've heard that the power inverter is to blame for this problem. :confused:
 
jabbott said:
My iMac 27" i7 experienced flickering/blackout/screen dislocation problems after applying the firmware update yesterday. This morning I called Apple Support and they asked me to bring it to the local Apple Store. I asked if the video card would need to be replaced, and the tech support person said that most likely the power inverter is to blame and will need to be replaced. This is the first time I've heard that the power inverter is to blame for this problem. :confused:
Click to expand...

I've got a 45, yellow tinge from time of receipt, flickering started a few days ago but only occurs when it's running hot with lots of app's running.

Yesterday, after over 20 hours on the phone with Apple Care over the past couple of weeks, I called the closest Apple Store. They acknowledged the problem, set an appointment, they claim logic board or video card.

One thing seems for certain to me and that is that it's not the display. Here's why: I can use my MBP with my ACD and there is no yellow tinge on the ACD, feed the ACD with iMac and the yellow tinge appears. I reported this to the Apple Store and they seemed to expect this result. They were very nebulous as to how the matter will get resolved. I'll report 1/4.
 
jhbpa said:
I've got a 45, yellow tinge from time of receipt, flickering started a few days ago but only occurs when it's running hot with lots of app's running.

Yesterday, after over 20 hours on the phone with Apple Care over the past couple of weeks, I called the closest Apple Store. They acknowledged the problem, set an appointment, they claim logic board or video card.

One thing seems for certain to me and that is that it's not the display. Here's why: I can use my MBP with my ACD and there is no yellow tinge on the ACD, feed the ACD with iMac and the yellow tinge appears. I reported this to the Apple Store and they seemed to expect this result. They were very nebulous as to how the matter will get resolved. I'll report 1/4.
Click to expand...

V. interesting - let us know what happens.
 
jhbpa said:
I've got a 45, yellow tinge from time of receipt, flickering started a few days ago but only occurs when it's running hot with lots of app's running.

Yesterday, after over 20 hours on the phone with Apple Care over the past couple of weeks, I called the closest Apple Store. They acknowledged the problem, set an appointment, they claim logic board or video card.

One thing seems for certain to me and that is that it's not the display. Here's why: I can use my MBP with my ACD and there is no yellow tinge on the ACD, feed the ACD with iMac and the yellow tinge appears. I reported this to the Apple Store and they seemed to expect this result. They were very nebulous as to how the matter will get resolved. I'll report 1/4.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Sounds like Apple is claiming there are multiple solutions to the same problem. Not very comforting... I will report back when I have a chance as well -- I'm taking the iMac in this Sunday and according to the Apple Support Tech it will probably be a few days until I get it back.
 
Figured out a way to reproduce flickering/blackouts on demand

I used HandBrake 0.9.4 to encode "Stranger Than Fiction" using the default encoding settings. I played the encoded version either using the full screen or fit to screen modes using Quicktime Player. The display brightness is set to two steps below maximum. Each time I've played the movie, my iMac has started flickering/blackouts by the end of the movie. In one case it started 46 minutes in.

I can't say for sure whether this will work for others, but it has worked three times in a row for me even after rebooting (and one time doing an SMC reset). This seems to be better than any other method I've tried for reproducing the problem.

In case anyone is curious about other settings, my computer and display sleep settings are both on 15 minutes. I have the screen saver set to "Hyperspace" but it is set to never come on. Wireless is off.
 
DarwinOSX said:
Get your iMac serial number and plug it in here;

http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
Click to expand...

...or you can use spcdust's method below (if you feel uncomfortable giving out your Mac's serial # to a dodgy looking website)...

spcdust said:
GadgetAddicted said:
Which part of the serial number can I use to tell what week my iMac was made?
Click to expand...
If your serial number was W**50******, then that would be a week 50 machine. Serial number is usually detailed on the invoice of your iMac purchase and also in the "About This Mac" on the top left drop down menu (once you've selected this menu option just click on the "More Info" Box).
Click to expand...
 
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