There is Hope for iMac 27" Display - Black Spots/Smudges/Dust in the display fixed!

[spcdust]

Here's a good one.

Just sold my top end BTO 2011 27in i7 for US$2000 - a good price in Hong Kong - as a stop gap until refresh I picked up the company's other same spec 2011 model purchased in July - and this was a machine that was sent as a replacement unit for a yellow tint issue that Apple maintains does not exist.

I now have the greying smoke marks on both upper corners of the machine, a machine that has seen about 80% less use than the one I've sold - I now have to waste considerable time getting the LCD replaced - given its still under warranty and has AppleCare I don't want to be swapping LCD panels each quarter - however, this is exactly what I'll do until Apple get the message that it is selling defective goods.

This issue has existed since the October 2009 refresh and was not remedied in May last year - wonder how long it will take Apple to get sick of me and offer a brand new replacement.

I guess I'm lucky, obviously I can do the repair detailed here, but the reality is Apple should be replacing all screens regardless of age and warranty status, particularly since its a known issue that has now existed for nearly three years.

So much for Apple quality, if they can get it right on one machine, they should be able to get it right on all machines - its a bloody disgrace and Apple are liable for this nonsense.

Very similar experience to mine, owned 2009 iMac and after 6-8 months got the smoke like marks, got screen replaced prior to selling it in 2011. Now have 2011 iMac and after 6-8 months same symptom. The iMac sits in a clean environment and this is obviously a design flaw in the iMacs design.

 

[GreenApple29]

hello to all again
i have sold my imac 24 model and now im on a mac mini i7 model 2.7 ghz
still dont have a monitor and i have done some research on many models in the market
i was looking for an ips monitor and found some but all with a very crapy design
so im looking at the new 27 thunderbolt display
but
since i had bad experience with the last display by apple i am wondering if this problem occurs on the new 27 display with the thunderbolt
has anyone had experience or knows if this occurs?
a lot of money to be spend so need to make sure
and of course this time i will make sure i will still be on apple care warranty

 

[Gebekophli]

Displays don't know this problem

Kali mera, prasino milo 29!

No, the problem with dust and dirt inside the displays will not occur in the Apple displays.


Όχι, το πρόβλημα με τη σκόνη και τη βρωμιά στο εσωτερικό των displayνες δεν θα εμφανιστεί στις displays της Apple.

 

[GreenApple29]

Kali mera, prasino milo 29!

No, the problem with dust and dirt inside the displays will not occur in the Apple displays.


Όχι, το πρόβλημα με τη σκόνη και τη βρωμιά στο εσωτερικό των displayνες δεν θα εμφανιστεί στις displays της Apple.

hahahha unbelievable!i got my answer in two languages!lol
cheers for the reply mate!
im expecting my thunderbolt display from your country by the way
if everything goes well i should have it next week at some point
ευχαριστώ!!!

 

[aquacos]

dust problem also in apple cinema display 24"

have the same problem with a 24" cinema display from 2010. the dust/ stains developed in the lower left corner oft the display after about 1,5 years in use. see the attached picture. so far i know there is no active fan for cooling the acds. so may be even passive air circulation can cause the problem.

edit: a user in a german forum corrected me. obviously the acds have a fan (see the second attached picture). if the circulation hypothesis is correct than it would explain the stains in the lower left corner of my acd.

 

[Gebekophli]

Obviously I was wrong with my answer, I apologize for that.
But I didn't heard or read about dust problems in cinema displays.
The airflow is different from that in iMacs, but now I can't contribute any facts.

 

[Roy G Biv]

I've taken my 27" back for the second screen replacement. Some genius told me that the problem will recur in any centrally cooled home because of dust/impurities circulating. he suggest putting something on the bottom where the speakers/intake are located to filter out dust. Has anyone tried something like that? I'm not sure what to use.

 

[lascott]

I've taken my 27" back for the second screen replacement. Some genius told me that the problem will recur in any centrally cooled home because of dust/impurities circulating. he suggest putting something on the bottom where the speakers/intake are located to filter out dust. Has anyone tried something like that? I'm not sure what to use.

Seems like a BS excuse, almost every house in america has Central AC/heat of some sort. I bet if you put something over the inlets they will blame that for the overheating.

 

[aquacos]

Obviously I was wrong with my answer, I apologize for that.
But I didn't heard or read about dust problems in cinema displays.
The airflow is different from that in iMacs, but now I can't contribute any facts.

i think that are more imacs out there than cinema displays so the problem seems not so obvious. but the construction of the acd and the panels seems similar to the imac. i think about to open my acd and clean the panel. but i'm a little bit reluctant because of the possibility to damage it.

 

[Farthen]

Hi, just wanted to leave a quick note that I successfully did this to my 2011 27" iMac (that just went out of the 1 year warranty). It took me about 2 hours to remove the frame but the rest went pretty quickly and straightforward. Now my iMac display looks like new again without that annoying dust!

Just one small thing: I have the feeling that the corner backlight bleeding became a little bit more annoying than before disassembling it. (Or I just started noticing it more because I stopped being annoyed about that nasty black smudge) Does anyone of you have any tips about this if i ever disassemble this thing again? Anything you can maybe put between frame and display to reduce backlight bleed?

 

[iSayuSay]

I still don't know what's the real culprit of the problem? Dust? Bad air circulation from the fan? Heat? Or combination of those?

I mean iMac is basically a giant iPad, the display were crammed on top of the guts. And iPad could be hot at times too, but I never heard or see claims that iPad share the same problem.

Only iMac, and a very very few Cinema Display.

Very similar experience to mine, owned 2009 iMac and after 6-8 months got the smoke like marks, got screen replaced prior to selling it in 2011. Now have 2011 iMac and after 6-8 months same symptom. The iMac sits in a clean environment and this is obviously a design flaw in the iMacs design.

So what are you doing right now? Keep using your 2011 iMac and hold on? Or sell it again? I hope you got AppleCare along with your machine. Problem keeps coming back, I've had my display replaced twice. Excellent, no question asked.

Problem is it's burdensome to be always worried about the problem, tinkering and pay too much attention about the smudge presence. And had to come back once every 5 -6 months to have regular display replacement ... Lose too much time without computer, and it's not exactly an easy computer to be carried back and forth

I have an AppleCare, but I'm not sure I'd go with iMac for my next computer. Too much to worry about.

 

[aquacos]

i did it. the acd is now like new. it took me about two hours. i had a little bit to fiddle with the 4 cables and the connectors (the service manual was helpful here). but the most difficult part was the frame. it is important here to look at the pins (see the guide by oggy). after opening the panel i was shocked about the huge amount of dust (mostly on the diffuser plate). it looked like as if the fan is pumping all of the dust it can get directly into the panel. unbelievable. that is really a big design flaw. thx @all for the help here in this thread.

 

[Roy G Biv]

I just had me 2nd display replacement. According to the paperwork Apple provided, the 1st display from December 2010 cost $779.69, and the 2nd was $567.05. The first was covered by the basic warranty, and the 2nd was covered by Apple Care.

If the displays cost Apple anywhere near those amounts, have they not already lost money on this $1700 iMac? I hope any additional display replacements might have it declared a lemon.

 

[peabo]

I have the same issue on my 27" ACD (Not the thunderbolt one). Are there any guides for disassembling that to repair it? Would it be much the same as the iMac?

 

[aquacos]

the acds seems to me a little bit easier to disassemble than the imacs. a service manual for the acd 24" you will find here: http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/displays/led_cinema_display_24.pdf
for the 27" it should be the same. opening the panel itself is well described in this thread by oggy. it is not so difficult as it looks on the first glance. i cleaned my acd 24" successfully. good luck.

 

[Gebekophli]

Having studied the URL
http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/displ...display_24.pdf
given by aquacos, thank you for the information,
especially the "Photo of Interior",

It is possible "to find an analogon" of source of the problem:

The Interior of the (24" as shown here) Cinema Display is divided by pressure walls into a "low air pressure" three-quarter (the right side and top part) and lower left "high air pressure" quarter including the power supply.

aquacos wrote:

"have the same problem with a 24" cinema display from 2010. the dust/ stains developed in the lower left corner oft the display..."

Dust always enters the display housing in the "high air pressure" zone, and this zone is the lower left corner, feeded by just one vent, in this (and presumably others too) Apple Cinema Displays.

In the iMacs of the last six (or more, I do know just the last six) years the high air pressure zone is the upper half, feeded by two or three vents.
The problems became worse in a more and more severe degree with the increasing success of preventing air leaks besides the pressure walls, which increased the pressure difference.
Details are shown in my contributions the this thread beginning on page 7.

 

[shadyramadan]

Vertical line

I got a vertical line after trying to clean the display. Is this dead pixles? Is there anyway to fix it?

 

[aquacos]

hi, did you check if you have the connector of the panel properly inserted and aligned?
look also at posts #52 and #55 in this thread. there a user described horizontal lines on the display after cleaning probably caused by damage to the film tabs that connect the LCD itself to the display's logic board.

good luck

 

[shadyramadan]

hi, did you check if you have the connector of the panel properly inserted and aligned?
look also at posts #52 and #55 in this thread. there a user described horizontal lines on the display after cleaning probably caused by damage to the film tabs that connect the LCD itself to the display's logic board.

good luck

It seems fine. I didn't bend it till the end. It's a brown line with a thumb wide.

----------

hi, did you check if you have the connector of the panel properly inserted and aligned?
look also at posts #52 and #55 in this thread. there a user described horizontal lines on the display after cleaning probably caused by damage to the film tabs that connect the LCD itself to the display's logic board.

good luck

It is a brown vertical line about a thumb wide. Any recommendations oggy ?

 

[shadyramadan]

A vertical line after trying to clean the imac 27 display.

This is a picture to it. Any recommendations?

 

[Oggy]

hi, did you check if you have the connector of the panel properly inserted and aligned?
look also at posts #52 and #55 in this thread. there a user described horizontal lines on the display after cleaning probably caused by damage to the film tabs that connect the LCD itself to the display's logic board.

good luck

I agree with aquacos. Probably damaged film connector. Try to check them thoroughly. Open the tin protector of the electronic board and check there for damages. You have nothing to lose now. Disassemble it totally! Till the last thing and reconnect everything back.

 

[shadyramadan]

I agree with aquacos. Probably damaged film connector. Try to check them thoroughly. Open the tin protector of the electronic board and check there for damages. You have nothing to lose now. Disassemble it totally! Till the last thing and reconnect everything back.

I will do this tomorrow
Will keep you updated.

 

[Gebekophli]

Focus your attention just to the film connector, which is situated right above the blue stripe. Disassemble the tin cover on the backside above the electronic board in the upper part and peek carefully, if you gripped upon the film connector and squeezed it. It seems as if you dislocated the edge/rim of the film connector above.
With common tools it is normally impossible to repair such loosened film wirings.
With compassion regards...

 

[meagain]

Still puzzled by how to take the display apart. I peeled off all tape and pried a bit here and there but I don't see any pry points nor any black frame and can't figure out how to free this thing up. Stuck.

 

[meagain]

OK - Nice clean screen. But big oops. Broke the LCD temperature sensor port. Can't imagine how because I replace the HD and dealt with the cables fine.

I turn it on and the fans are blazing. This isn't a matter of replacing the cord/cable because the port is broken. :|

Any ideas? Any way to bypass this? I have smc fan control but it does nothing.