As topic...why MacRumors dosen't publish a news about new iMac screen flickering issue? There are many users out there reporting this problem. I think it could be usefull to make some pressure to Apple and get an official response about this issue.
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Why MacRumors dosen't publish a news about new iMac screen flickering issue?
- Thread starter luckystar101
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Not fixed
No, I don't believe this was fixed by 10.6.2 - people are posting that their machines are still exhibiting this behavior. And new owners who've just gotten their machines with 10.6.2 pre-installed and saying they've got it as well.
No, I don't believe this was fixed by 10.6.2 - people are posting that their machines are still exhibiting this behavior. And new owners who've just gotten their machines with 10.6.2 pre-installed and saying they've got it as well.
I've got it
I have the issue too - on my i7 I just got Friday
White horizontal bands intermittently (granted, not very frequent) and then twice it has blacked out for 1 second. Much like when Vista/7 asks for UAC control.
Trying to figure out how best to approach this. Seems like a hardware issue to me since it's affecting some but not others, and I have done a full reinstall etc etc..
I have the issue too - on my i7 I just got Friday
White horizontal bands intermittently (granted, not very frequent) and then twice it has blacked out for 1 second. Much like when Vista/7 asks for UAC control.
Trying to figure out how best to approach this. Seems like a hardware issue to me since it's affecting some but not others, and I have done a full reinstall etc etc..
I have the issue too - on my i7 I just got Friday
White horizontal bands intermittently (granted, not very frequent) and then twice it has blacked out for 1 second. Much like when Vista/7 asks for UAC control.
Trying to figure out how best to approach this. Seems like a hardware issue to me since it's affecting some but not others, and I have done a full reinstall etc etc..
Yes, reading forums and watching video on youtube it's a a real issue of these new iMac, many people have it. I should get my first iMac next wednesday (iMac 21" with HD4670) I'll post a video if I have same issue.
I have a Windows machine and yes that card does flicker sometimes the cards are a heat magnet i have to keep the card cleaned of dust a lot or it does it worse
Ati
from what I've gathered, it must be the ATI card problem as someone mentioned already.
two main problmes: flicker & heat.
10.6.2 didn't fix this since ATI should provide its own patch.
With growing number of complaints and forums, I think Apple will at least pressure ATI guys to fix this
from what I've gathered, it must be the ATI card problem as someone mentioned already.
two main problmes: flicker & heat.
10.6.2 didn't fix this since ATI should provide its own patch.
With growing number of complaints and forums, I think Apple will at least pressure ATI guys to fix this
Im not smart enough to say unequivocally that 10.6.2 fixed this, but I can report that since the update my machine no longer exhibits this behavior, which it did 100% of the time prior to the update. So certainly something has changed, Ill wait and hold off to say that its fixed.
ok perhaps it is the cards, but the reality is not ALL of the folks with 27 inch imacs have the problem... it is only a subset (including, sadly, me) so therefore to me that points to a *hardware* flaw or everyone would be having the issue and to the same magnitude. instead it looks like perhaps 10-20% have the problem and some folks have the problems only once every few days while others like me see it constantly. while apple or ati may develop a workaround the reality is i want a working computer day 1, and those apparently exist so my computer is being returned.
try in May!
they won't be updated till at least then. These machines will stay current for a while
Certainly won't be any new iMacs coming in January but history shows they will most likely drop (and certainly with a much welcomed gpu update) around March - give or take a few weeks.
What doesn't add up about the reported screen flickers being blamed on the 4850 is that the very same card has been running fixed and fine in the last gen higher end iMacs since April. So if it was in fact the card, it would almost certainly have to be directly related the new 27 inchers and the much higher res causing overheating issues.
Exactly, I thought this place was about integrity and objectivity. I made a thread about how going to 10.6.2 started flickering issues on my early 2008 iMac which was not doing it prior to the update and not a lot of attention.
I am suggesting that if this is GPU hardware related Apple will at least quietly update within a few months.
They had a number of occasions of 3-5 month product cycles. Generally a 10 months.
The fact that some are having the problem and others aren't doesn't necessarily prove that this is a hardware issue. Installed programs, environmental factors, and other variances amongst machines could be also causing some folks to have the issues and others not to. As a pretty avid PC gamer, I've seen NVIDIA release some pretty dodgy drivers that affected some computers dramatically and others not at all.
One thing in my mind that points to a driver issue is the fact that the issue is prevalent on 27" iMacs with both the 4670 and the 4850. If this problem is indeed tied to the video card (either hardware or software), and I don't see how it couldn't be given the nature of the problem, then the fact that it's happening on different hardware that (presumably) run the same drivers strongly indicates that a driver/firmware/video BIOS issue is the cause.
At least that'd be my logic when dealing with a PC.
Back to the OP's topic...I too would like to see MacRumors publish a blurb on their site about this issue...it might at least pressure Apple a little bit to explain what's going on. It seems that everyone who calls Apple directly gets a different answer depending on whom they talk to...so no one knows what ground truth is.
if its a GPU related hardware fault they will have to issue a recall on the affected machines anyway.
They certainly have had a number of 5 month product cycles, I am just suggesting that since this was a large update, and since it has taken at least a month to get the mid and high end models (dual core with 4850 & all quad cores) up and running, you could argue the new cycle really only started in November, hence I believe they will milk this iteration for all its worth, and won't update again till march.
Thats just my opinion tho
kfscoll said:
sorry,don't follow that logic
The fact that some are having the problem and others aren't doesn't necessarily prove that this is a hardware issue. Installed programs, environmental factors, and other variances amongst machines could be also causing some folks to have the issues and others not to. As a pretty avid PC gamer, I've seen NVIDIA release some pretty dodgy drivers that affected some computers dramatically and others not at all.
One thing in my mind that points to a driver issue is the fact that the issue is prevalent on 27" iMacs with both the 4670 and the 4850. If this problem is indeed tied to the video card (either hardware or software), and I don't see how it couldn't be given the nature of the problem, then the fact that it's happening on different hardware that (presumably) run the same drivers strongly indicates that a driver/firmware/video BIOS issue is the cause.
At least that'd be my logic when dealing with a PC.
Back to the OP's topic...I too would like to see MacRumors publish a blurb on their site about this issue...it might at least pressure Apple a little bit to explain what's going on. It seems that everyone who calls Apple directly gets a different answer depending on whom they talk to...so no one knows what ground truth is.
You do realize that there is only a few hardware combinations for the new 27" imacs. If you get the top of the line i5/i7, you get the 4850, no choice. The only other difference is HD, now that is not going to make the screen flicker. The question is, is apple using only one variation of the LED?
Anyway, back to my point, given the hardware is the same across the line, and the imacs come with a fresh install of SL, that kinda rules out driver bios issues on two identical machines.
I know what you mean about the nvidia drivers, but that was for PCs, that have hundreds and hundreds of hardware combinations, Apple has a very very limited hardware combination.
I am certain all the imacs come with the same drivers and Bios, it could be that they have recieved some defective logic boards or ATI chips etc, this has happened before with nvidia chips.
I saw this issue happening on the display imacs in the Apple store. Interestingly enough i have been back and forth a few times to look at the same imac (trying to say no... but cannot) and at first it was fine, now it has been three weeks and yesterday i have noticed that the flickers was very visible, and annoying.
The hardware configurations across the 27" line are NOT the same. The Core 2 Duo-based machines have different logic boards/chipsets than do the i5/i7 machines. Not only that, but the stock video card on the C2Ds is the 4670 whereas the i5/i7s have the 4850. And the flickering issue has been reported across all of these combinations. It's academic in my case anyway; Apple's already approved my RMA and rumor has it that the latest batch of i7's have had a graphics card fix implemented.