Intel iMac users, help! (brightness)

[M. Malone]

Well this thing is really weird, and annoying

I unchecked "Automatically reduce brightness" which should mean it should not dim, but it does! I told my iMac to sleep, and the display to sleep after one hour in energy saver, I let it go idle and I turned my stop watch, after 12 minutes, it dims, I DO NOT want it to dim, I move the mouse, start the stopwatch again, this time it dims in 3 minutes, I move the mouse, start the stop watch again, it dims in 15 minutes, what's up with my machine, why can't it be consistent, this is my second iMac, the first one had to be returned cause the Airport card was messed up...AND I have done everything regarding this issue, repairing permission, repairing after booting from the DVD that came with my iMac, deleted the preference, you name it, I most certainly have done it, I called apple, they don't understand...what can I do, this is annoying, cause if I'm reading something, without moving the mouse, I just wait for the screen to dim and get distracted...help

 

[Artful Dodger]

This is the same on my Intel iMac and yes it is very annoying when trying to read something or in my case watch a tutorial from QuickTime and it dims even after everything has been set not to.

 

[Philberttheduck]

ditto. really ticks me off whenever im reading stuff then watching it dim. they should fix this

 

[M. Malone]

ditto. really ticks me off whenever im reading stuff then watching it dim. they should fix this

has any of you tried a clean install? I am considering it, and are there any chances this thing can be a hardware problem?

Edit: and another concern is, the inconsistency, gets me to think Apple took the iMac G5, dropped an intel processor into it and rushed it to the market, I really NEVER had such dumb little problems with any of the macs I have owned before the intel transition, they have been bulletproof reliable

 

[tonyl]

Call Apple tech support.

 

[M. Malone]

Call Apple tech support.

I did, they made me do what I listed in my original post, it worked, till I restarted, I just wanna be sure it's not hardware and that by next update it will work fine

 

[twoodcc]

mine doesn't do it. so you know not all intel iMacs are doing it

 

[M. Malone]

mine doesn't do it. so you know not all intel iMacs are doing it

sounds great, when did you purchase your iMac? and are you sure you have left it idle upto 15 minutes, with sleep to kick in after an hour? cause that's what seems to happen with me, it fluctuates, but it rarely takes longer than 15 minutes for the brightness to reduce, I might just do a clean install if I keep hitting a dead end, I hope it's a software problem though cause I am sick of carrying things to the Genius bar then packing it to ship it back, I just hope what I got is working fine.

 

[twoodcc]

sounds great, when did you purchase your iMac? and are you sure you have left it idle upto 15 minutes, with sleep to kick in after an hour? cause that's what seems to happen with me, it fluctuates, but it rarely takes longer than 15 minutes for the brightness to reduce, I might just do a clean install if I keep hitting a dead end, I hope it's a software problem though cause I am sick of carrying things to the Genius bar then packing it to ship it back, I just hope what I got is working fine.

i got it in January. i ususally just leave it on all the time. i don't put it to sleep. but i've never seen the brightness change at all

 

[Artful Dodger]

I did a custom install twice on mine and when I've set the iMac "never" to sleep or use the screen saver, like reading something or just working on a drawing to be scanned in it still does this. When I brought this iMac in for a new SD (DOA) I said this to the Tech. and he said it's not with every iMac, meaning this also happens on the G5 iMac as well I guess if it starts to due this sooner then the 10-12 min. time lapse then I'm going to make some calls to get it on the record just incase something really bad happens but for now I try not to let it ruin my day.

 

[samanthas]

Mine does it too (Intel iMac 1.83 here). I thought it was normal.

 

[M. Malone]

Mine does it too (Intel iMac 1.83 here). I thought it was normal.

well...I called Apple again, they said they weren't aware of such a problem and it's not supposed to happen, so guess what, I do a clean install...and I decided not to update the iMac yet, the dimming issue didn't go away, now there isn't anything I have not done, this is weird, and frustrating, I always expect all my electronics to do what they're supposed to do, ESPECIALLY an Apple product, this is the first Mac I have ever owned that has a problem like this....anything else you think I should do? or should I just give up and put up with it

 

[Willis]

Edit: and another concern is, the inconsistency, gets me to think Apple took the iMac G5, dropped an intel processor into it and rushed it to the market

Bingo! Remember, Intel Macs werent due out till June '06. Plus, they released the iMac in a couple of months, so not bad really, but for the tech issues that have happened, its a pain.

 

[M. Malone]

Bingo! Remember, Intel Macs werent due out till June '06. Plus, they released the iMac in a couple of months, so not bad really, but for the tech issues that have happened, its a pain.

so does anybody think all we need is an update for this issue? it's just weird that not everybody is experiencing it

 

[runninmac]

Im not sure if this is the same on iMacs but on my iBook I have to have prosesser proformance at custom after i set it. Maybe thats just for laptops though.