24" iMac light inside even when off [Archive]

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maverick808

Sep 21, 2006, 09:08 PM

I just noticed while my iMac was asleep in a completey dark room that there is a very subtle light I can see in the center of the chin, about 1 inch right and one inch down from the Apple logo. I do not mean the sleep light which pulses away at the far right, I'm talking about another very faint light just beside the Apple logo.

If the room is completely dark I can see THROUGH the white plastic and see a metal grill patern behind it. If i turn the iMac completely off the light is still there. The only way to get the light off is to switch the plug off at the wall.

Does anyone else with a 24" iMac see the same thing. It's very very subtle so you'll have to be in a competely dark room to check.

capran

Sep 21, 2006, 10:14 PM

I don't have an iMac (yet, that 24" has me dreaming though...), but I suspect it's a tiny LED on the motherboard.

Many PCs have these, they simply indicate the motherboard is energized, but not necessarily on. As the Intel Macs are essentially PCs, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that they'd also have one of these.

Hope that helps.

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 07:22 AM

Does anyone else with a 24" iMac see the same thing. It's very very subtle so you'll have to be in a competely dark room to check.

Hi, I actually opened up my iMac 24" (cos it was DOA) and I seen the little LED(s) you mention. There are more than one right there. The infra-red sensor for the remote is located right behind the Apple logo and just to the South-east of the logo, there are maybe about 4 LED's (one of which was on, even when I didn't have the iMac powered on). If I remember rightly, when I threw the power off on the A/C socket on my wall, the LED went off.

I haven't a clue what they are for mind you. Hope this helped somewhat.

maverick808

Sep 22, 2006, 07:27 AM

Thanks for the replies. I suspected it was an LED on the motherboard as I've seen them frequently on other computers. However, I am wondering why I can see through the plastic at one specific location because I want to know if it's a defect in my machine or if it's like this on all 24" iMacs.

Can someone with a 24" iMac check in a completely dark room?

zerolight

Sep 22, 2006, 07:39 AM

I'd imagine that small portion near the apple logo is slightly transparent to allow the IR signals to pass through the casing to the sensor behind the apple logo?

maverick808

Sep 22, 2006, 07:44 AM

I'd imagine that small portion near the apple logo is slightly transparent to allow the IR signals to pass through the casing to the sensor behind the apple logo?

Stupidly, that never occurred to me. You're almost certainly right. It would still be nice if someone else could confirm if their 24" was the same though.

capran

Sep 22, 2006, 10:06 AM

Well I don't know about the 24, but the 20 on my desk only has that 1 light for sleep.

Hi, I actually opened up my iMac 24" (cos it was DOA) and I seen the little LED(s) you mention. There are more than one right there. The infra-red sensor for the remote is located right behind the Apple logo and just to the South-east of the logo, there are maybe about 4 LED's (one of which was on, even when I didn't have the iMac powered on). If I remember rightly, when I threw the power off on the A/C socket on my wall, the LED went off.

I haven't a clue what they are for mind you. Hope this helped somewhat.

Some PCs have 4 or more LEDs (usually on the back near the ports) that change color in sequence when starting up. They indicate diagnostic procedures occuring during BIOS initialization. The manual for the motherboard has a chart that indicates what each set of colors (usually green/orange) indicates and if there's a problem.

The ones you're seeing are probably something similiar. It does seem odd that only the 24" would have those, though.

artvandelay

Sep 22, 2006, 10:51 AM

Hey, I discovered the same problem about the second night I got my 24". I called apple, and they had no idea, and told me to take it to the nearest Apple Store. I called them, and never heard of it either.

Both told me not to worry, and that it was probably an insignificant thing. I have been browsing forums for someone with the same problem.

I thought it was the RAM, as this is basically where it is located. Would Apple RAM have LED's on it? But that IR sensor theory sounds pretty accurate.

Is there anything that we can do, or is this just a cosmetic flaw?

maverick808

Sep 22, 2006, 11:05 AM

So at least one other person noticed the same problem. It probably is standard on all 24" iMacs, and there's probably nothing we can do about it.

Oh well, it doesn't bother me really since you only notice it when it's pitch black in the room, and even then you have to look quite hard to notice at all.

someguy

Sep 22, 2006, 11:13 AM

So at least one other person noticed the same problem. It probably is standard on all 24" iMacs, and there's probably nothing we can do about it.
What problem? What exactly would you like to be done about this problem? :confused:

maverick808

Sep 22, 2006, 11:23 AM

What problem? What exactly would you like to be done about this problem? :confused:

The problem is that even if you turn the machine off there is still a dull light you can always see, which is kinda annoying if you have the iMac in the room where you sleep, as I do. What I do now is place a book in front of the light so that it doesn't bother me while I'm trying to sleep. Do you really think that having to do that is not at least a slight annoyance and problem? It's not enough to send the iMac back, and I do love the machine, but it IS annoying, even if only a little.

Before the 24" I owned both the last revision of the 20" G5 iMacs and the 20" Core Duo iMac. Neither had a part of the plastic that you could see through. So basically, in a perfect world I would prefer if the latest 24" iMac didn't have a part of the plastic you could see through.

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 12:28 PM

Just for info. Yes, the Apple Logo is made from a semi-transparent (opaque) plastic. I assume that's to let the IR signal pass through to the receiver.
Here is a photo I took when I had the iMac opened up. As you can see, it's on it's side. I too think they are MoBo diagnostic lights, or possibly something to do with the RAM modules. Anyway... Here's the pic.

http://www.mcnairney.co.uk/IMG_0904.jpg

Xeem

Sep 22, 2006, 12:45 PM

I wouldn't describe this as a problem; my G4 Cube also has an internal light that stays on as long its power supply is plugged in. Props to Icewind for a great pic.

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 12:53 PM

I wouldn't describe this as a problem; my G4 Cube also has an internal light that stays on as long its power supply is plugged in. Props to Icewind for a great pic.

Cheers Xeem-Matey, I agree, it's not a problem. It's simply some diagnostic LED's on the MoBo. Wintel-crap machines tend to have them on the back (cos... basically they are too damn ugly to have pretty little lights, tastefully subdued on the front :D ). Anyway, glad you liked the photo. My fingers are still taped up with band-aids after ripping that thing apart.

maverick808

Sep 22, 2006, 01:05 PM

Cheers Xeem-Matey, I agree, it's not a problem. It's simply some diagnostic LED's on the MoBo. Wintel-crap machines tend to have them on the back (cos... basically they are too damn ugly to have pretty little lights, tastefully subdued on the front :D ). Anyway, glad you liked the photo. My fingers are still taped up with band-aids after ripping that thing apart.

Thanks for the pictures. Okay maybe it's not a major problem or anything, I was just saying in a perfect world, if I had the choice, I'd rather not see these lights through the plastic.

Can I ask Icewind, if your iMac arrived DOA why would you open it up rather than send it straight back?

fall3n

Sep 22, 2006, 01:07 PM

Cheers Xeem-Matey, I agree, it's not a problem. It's simply some diagnostic LED's on the MoBo. Wintel-crap machines tend to have them on the back (cos... basically they are too damn ugly to have pretty little lights, tastefully subdued on the front :D ). Anyway, glad you liked the photo. My fingers are still taped up with band-aids after ripping that thing apart.

haha, wicked pics icewind. I've always been wondering how they put them togeher. If you have more pics I'd love to see them, but I'm guessing you didn't take the screen completely out either. Is Apple sending you a new one so that's why your just messing around with the DOA?

fall3n

Sep 22, 2006, 01:09 PM

Eidorian

Sep 22, 2006, 01:28 PM

Just for info. Yes, the Apple Logo is made from a semi-transparent (opaque) plastic. I assume that's to let the IR signal pass through to the receiver.
It's called "translucent". You WIN for the picture and the Star Wars reference though.

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 01:37 PM

Thanks for the pictures. Okay maybe it's not a major problem or anything, I was just saying in a perfect world, if I had the choice, I'd rather not see these lights through the plastic.

Can I ask Icewind, if your iMac arrived DOA why would you open it up rather than send it straight back?

Ah yeah... the answer to that question is that I'm an I.T. Specialist and absurdly inquisitive by nature. I just had to have a go at fixing it myself. I was sure it was simply a case of a disconnected HD cable or the power lead onto the HD, so I decided to open it up first and have a look. Unfortunately, I never managed to get the screen out, as they use those pesky little star-headed screws (not philips heads), and I didn't have a TX-05 tool at hand. The HD is located directly opposite the optical drive (on the left, when viewing from front). That means it was under the screen and I couldn't get the screen out, so I gave up and put the thing back together, then called Apple and reported the problem. The machine has now been collected and is on it's way back to Apple. Meanwhile, my replacement iMac is in transit to me, here in the UK, but accoring to the TNT Express tracking system, it's stuck at Pudong International Airport (China I think) right now, so looks like it will be well into next week before it arrives here.

Also, I totally agree with you. I'm such a perfectionist that I tend to notice even the smallest of details in everything. But, to be honest, I didn't notice the LED shining through the white plastic when I was actually trying to get the thing working. In saying that, my study (where the iMac was) is not exactly dark with the lights off, so I never noticed it.

Unfortunately, I think that it's going to just be a case of "living with it" as-is. It looks like the 20" iMac doesn't have this "issue", it's only the 24" that it seems to be prominent. Hopefully, you can "turn a blind eye" and try to forget about it. The 24" iMac is a beautiful machine, and it would be so sad to let such a small issue detract you from enjoying it to the full. The only option I can think on is to open it up (like me :) ) and stick a piece of black insulating tape on the inside of the front cover (directly over where the LED's are). By doing this, it would block out the light coming from inside.

Hope this has helped. I know you are probably still cheesed-off with it, but it looks like it's down to manufacturing design and not a defect, so you would only have the same issue with a replacement iMac.

Colin

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 01:55 PM

It's called "translucent". You WIN for the picture and the Star Wars reference though.

LOL, I should be ashamed of myself. Here I am... British, and having English lessons from an American! Who, I must add, frequently over-indulge in unnecessary terminology, such as "Transparent Space Engineer". Which we Limey's simply term as "A Window Cleaner". :D

Only jesting with you. I think you may be right actually. Although, you guys still spell "Colour" incorrectly :p

Glad you liked the Star Wars (The Holy Trilogy) reference.

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 02:16 PM

haha, wicked pics icewind. I've always been wondering how they put them togeher. If you have more pics I'd love to see them, but I'm guessing you didn't take the screen completely out either. Is Apple sending you a new one so that's why your just messing around with the DOA?

Hi, I only took one other photo of the insides. This was when I actually managed to get the OSX Installation screens up and running. Unfortunately though, there was no Macintosh HD listed to install onto. The HD seems to be located behind the screen, and I couldn't get that out (see my other post in this thread).

Yeah, the duff-job has already been collected and Apple are sending me a replacement unit. Can't wait to get it up and running (if it works).

http://www.mcnairney.co.uk/IMG_0903.jpg

fall3n

Sep 22, 2006, 02:33 PM

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 02:47 PM

thanks for the pic icewind. Now I know what mine looks like in there :D They really cram everything in there don't they? I'm sure you're next one will work perfectly, you just got unlucky. Mine is wicked, I think I'm in love. You only got a small taste of how beautiful that screen really is. Good luck to you!

Cheers Fall,

Thanks for the good luck wishes. Yes, I must have just been unlucky. In saying that, the screen on my iMac was perfect too. Not one dead pixel. I see, from one of your other threads that you have a few dead pixels. I hated sending my iMac back. Partly because I was originally worried about dead pixels and this one was perfect. Wait till this replacement arrives. I bet there are loads of them :(

capran

Sep 22, 2006, 03:19 PM

I'm wondering what that heatsink in the picture is hiding. I don't think it could be the CPU or GPU, could it?

I'd like to see complete disassembly pics with labels included of all the major components. :p

ESPECIALLY the MXM card, where is it and how hard is it to get to and remove? I'm hoping it's easy, so then maybe there'll be aftermarket upgrades sometime in the near future! :D

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 03:45 PM

I'm wondering what that heatsink in the picture is hiding. I don't think it could be the CPU or GPU, could it?

I wondered about that too. It certainly wasn't hot to touch. I don't think it can be the CPU heat-sink, as the middle is cut out for the IR sensor. I personally think it's just a sink to dissipate latent heat from the interior. The big round black thing to the left is a fan which pumps out air directly over that sink.

I found this Japanese article with disassembly photos of an Intel iMac but it looks diffrent to our 24" bad-boys. It must be the 20" Intel.

http://www.kodawarisan.com/imac_intel/imac_intel001.html

fall3n

Sep 22, 2006, 03:53 PM

Cheers Fall,

Thanks for the good luck wishes. Yes, I must have just been unlucky. In saying that, the screen on my iMac was perfect too. Not one dead pixel. I see, from one of your other threads that you have a few dead pixels. I hated sending my iMac back. Partly because I was originally worried about dead pixels and this one was perfect. Wait till this replacement arrives. I bet there are loads of them :(

Aw bummer, to bad you can't request that same screen ;) I'll pray that you at least get a perfect one!

Cabbit

Sep 22, 2006, 04:14 PM

i dont know if it has been said already but the LED inside a computer that normally stay on it WOL. Wake On LAN so a tech can turn the computer on remotely to install updates and maintenance .

Icewind

Sep 22, 2006, 04:46 PM

Thanks BabyJen,

That could be just what that LED is. Hey Maverick, try this out and see if the little LED goes off.

Click on System Preferences, then Energy Saver. Now de-select the "Wake for Ethernet Administrator Access" and see if that switches off the LED.

You most likely will not need Wake-On-LAN, so there's not much point in having it enabled.

Try that out and let us know how you get on.

Swarmlord

Sep 22, 2006, 05:17 PM

The problem is that even if you turn the machine off there is still a dull light you can always see, which is kinda annoying if you have the iMac in the room where you sleep, as I do. What I do now is place a book in front of the light so that it doesn't bother me while I'm trying to sleep. Do you really think that having to do that is not at least a slight annoyance and problem? It's not enough to send the iMac back, and I do love the machine, but it IS annoying, even if only a little.

Before the 24" I owned both the last revision of the 20" G5 iMacs and the 20" Core Duo iMac. Neither had a part of the plastic that you could see through. So basically, in a perfect world I would prefer if the latest 24" iMac didn't have a part of the plastic you could see through.

I had to laugh when you mentioned having to sleep with with the light from a single, small LED. Evidently you've never seen the lights that are built into most of the high end power supplies and MSI motherboard chipset fans these days. Even with the case completely sealed, my Windoze workstation looks like a scene from Starwars is being shot inside when it's running and has two LEDs that glow when the machine is shut down.

Black electrical tape works fine to cover them up.

artvandelay

Sep 22, 2006, 07:06 PM

Icewind

I tried turning off "Wake for Ethernet Administrator Access," and that light still is there.

hmmmm.....

Eidorian

Sep 22, 2006, 07:23 PM

maverick808

Sep 23, 2006, 07:27 AM

Try that out and let us know how you get on.

Tried it and, unfortunately, it doesn't make a difference. And I actually do use the wake on lan functionality quite a lot so I do need it on.

I tried to take a picture with a long exposure to show what it looked like, but the camera couldn't even pick it up. I've decided I don't really care and will just live with it.

Thanks for your help though, I appreciate your suggestions.

Cabbit

Sep 23, 2006, 07:37 AM

Icewind

I tried turning off "Wake for Ethernet Administrator Access," and that light still is there.

hmmmm.....

you would not be able to turn it off there, as far as im aware it can only be turned of via the bios, but in some cases it stays on, there is another feature i think its to do with WOL. There is a way for a admin to send a wake command to the power-supply as well. I did this all the time on my last job, you send a wake command to 100 PC's and they all boot up for the staff arriving 30 mins later. Similar to WOL but for a different purpose. All the light is telling you is that the computer can be remotely woken.

Manic Mouse

Sep 23, 2006, 08:33 AM

"Opaque" means light cannot pass through the material, not that it's translucent. Opaque is the opposite of transparent, translucent is something in-between (like in this case).

dcv

Sep 23, 2006, 07:29 PM

I don't have an Intel iMac (yet!) but have 2 iMac G5s and those LEDs are just for diagnostic purposes. There's info about them here (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86815). The first one should always be on if the iMac is plugged in... shame you see it through the casing though.

OutThere

Sep 23, 2006, 07:48 PM

I actually noticed this a couple times on my iBook G4...no clue...

levitynyc

Oct 4, 2006, 02:10 AM

Macmadant

Oct 5, 2006, 05:14 PM

My 20" C2D, also has a small LED green light at the bottom where the mesh is, don't know why, it can't be networking as it's wireless, even when the computer is shutdown it still remains on

art0fwar

Mar 18, 2007, 04:52 AM

yep, ive got a 24inch imac and havnt noticed it, you can see a small light source through the mesh next to the logo, i never noticed it until i read the FORUM, all i did was cover the area where the logo is on the right with my 2 hands allowing no light to come through and look closely, you can see it even if my light it on. it is very minimal and does not concern me, MSN me if u got any issues or what ever, hotommy@hotmail... :eek: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple:

wizwaz3

Mar 19, 2007, 11:14 AM

Mine does it too. Never thought anything of it.

MacBass

Apr 14, 2007, 06:59 PM

They could be LEDs for diagnostic purposes...the original iMac G5 had 4 LEDs on the motherboard for diagnostics.