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corvus32 · Feb 12, 2006, 08:00 PM

This is a 20" 2Ghz iMac, I bought it new about 4 months ago along with AppleCare Protection.

Has anyone seen or heard of this sort of problem?

hickey · Feb 12, 2006, 08:20 PM

i think that might be whats referred to as LCD bleeding, but I could be wrong. Have you called apple yet and talked to them about this?
Its also possible that this is related to the video problem on some iMacs with the 256MB upgrade. But I that might only be on the intel machines.

mduell · Feb 12, 2006, 10:04 PM

This is not the video problem that some iMacs have with OSX build 8G1171.
This is a hardware problem. Call AppleCare.

corvus32 · Feb 12, 2006, 10:10 PM

I'm not to sure what LCD bleeding is, so I will have to google that and see what I can find.

I haven't called Apple yet, but was planning to do so tomorrow. I wanted to get some information about this problem from you guys first before I called.

A few other bits of information I can add is that this line doesn't appear in screenshots taken with Grab, thus I had to take a picture of it with a digital camera, and another thing is that it's present at all times, even during boot up.

corvus32 · Feb 15, 2006, 04:34 PM

Monday I drove over an hour and a half (one way) to the nearest AASP to drop off my imac and have it fixed.

Today they called and said it was ready to pick up. Yipee!... or so I thought.

Well, they charged me $135 to run 'Specialized Utilites' on my computer!!! (Disk Warrior no doubt)

I asked what was wrong with it, and the guy said that the software on my hard drive was over 20% corrupted.

Huh? So I said, "...and that would produce a dark wavy line on the display", and he said yeah.

I asked what about AppleCare? He said that only covers hardware not software.

I so wanted to rip this guy's head completely off, and shove it through the glass counter a few times.

Anyways... I finally get home, plug it in, turn it on, and.........

*beep*

I call them up, and tell the guy it's no different than when I brought it to you on Monday.

Naturally he gives me that rehearsed bullcrap of oh just bring back in, let us take ANOTHER look at it, we'll fix it this time, and of course it won't cost you anything.

Yeah, it won't cost me anything because you already charged me $135 asswipe.

God!

mduell · Feb 15, 2006, 04:52 PM

Demand a refund or file a complaint with the BBB and your state's AG (or both). $135 charge for unauthorized and unneeded "service" is bogus.
Also, you should have plugged it in and checked it before you left the store.

f1000 · Feb 15, 2006, 05:11 PM

That's clearly a hardware problem. It looks like something's wrong with the backlight (not the LCD itself).

That AASP is a moron.

mduell · Feb 15, 2006, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by f1000

That's clearly a hardware problem. It looks like something's wrong with the backlight (not the LCD itself).

That AASP is a moron.

I don't think a backlight problem would look like that... looks like pressure on the back of the screen to me.

f1000 · Feb 15, 2006, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

I don't think a backlight problem would look like that... looks like pressure on the back of the screen to me.

Yeah, I doubt that the problem has to do with the fluorescent tubes themselves, but it probably has something to do with whatever is being used to diffuse the light through the LCD.

volcano · Feb 16, 2006, 02:59 AM

Originally Posted by hickey

i think that might be whats referred to as LCD bleeding, but I could be wrong. Have you called apple yet and talked to them about this?
Its also possible that this is related to the video problem on some iMacs with the 256MB upgrade. But I that might only be on the intel machines.

I don't believe he has an Intel iMac. He stated he purchased it four months ago, which places the time of purchase around mid-October 2005, which was right around the time the Rev. C iMacs w/ an iSight were introduced.

Alas, I'm guessing he has a Rev. B 2.0GHz iMac G5.

Sorry about your problem. As other have stated, it looks like a hardware problem to me. AppleCare should definitely cover it and that incomptent tech shouldn't have charged you $135 in the first place. Talk to the managers first, then work your way upwards. If nothing avails, then start threatening them with the BBB, etc.

corvus32 · Feb 16, 2006, 05:07 PM

I got a refund from those goons, and took my mac somewhere else to have it fixed.

They are going to replace the display, and I should have it back maybe Saturday.

I hope they do a good job because I can't afford to keep driving all over the country -- I've spent over $80 in gas this week on that stupid computer.

My mac makes me feel broke.