New 'Anti-Flicker' Firmware Ready to Download...

[hakr]

...from Apple software updates. Just downloaded and installed it. There's no accompanying explanation as to what the update does, in terms of technicalities.

Get it while it is hot! :D

[astroot]

Yep I just installed it about 15 minutes ago. I updated iTunes and then the iMac update popped up when Software Update checked again. Hope this fixes my minor screen flickering!

[Yakuza]

...from Apple software updates. Just downloaded and installed it. There's no accompanying explanation as to what the update does, in terms of technicalities.

Get it while it is hot! :D

And for those who received it? is it worth the download? lol

[SaSaSushi]

I hope this helps people with flickering displays.

It's strange, I have yet to apply the last firmware fix since I wasn't experiencing any problems so that is listed in Software Update as:

27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update Version 1.0

Then, the new one just released under that is:

27-inch iMac Display Update Version 1.0

So the new one appears to be a firmware update for the panel itself.

[hakr]

I hope this helps people with flickering displays.

It's strange, I have yet to apply the last firmware fix since I wasn't experiencing any problems so that is listed in Software Update as:

27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update Version 1.0

Then, the new one just released under that is:

27-inch iMac Display Update Version 1.0

So the new one appears to be a firmware update for the panel itself.


Hmmm. You seem to have resisted bumping the memory in your I7 to eight gigs...I have, too, even though doing so is only $100. The few benchmarks I have seen don't seem to show a substantial improvement in much of anything.

[Focks]

This means Apple is accelerating the solutions to the problems (flickering and yellowing), and I am happy with it cause I am holding to order one through the AppleOnline (I am waiting for more than 2 months in a reseller) until some definitive solution is held, especially for the yellowing, which I hope will be in 2\3 weeks, as Apple said it that internal memo.

So, let the reviews begin and say wether this firmware update has really stopped flickering!

[SaSaSushi]

Hmmm. You seem to have resisted bumping the memory in your I7 to eight gigs...I have, too, even though doing so is only $100. The few benchmarks I have seen don't seem to show a substantial improvement in much of anything.

Yeah, I do plan to do so eventually but like you I've seen the benchmarks and don't feel the burning need to go out and do so right away. The 2 slots are empty and waiting for whenever I want to take the plunge. :)

So now I'm waiting for the guinea pigs to report back on the new display firmware. I really hope this fixes the flickering for those suffering with it.

[tomacintosh]

Interesting to note, my newly received Week 05 iMac does not need this update, so they must have had it rock 'n rolling for a while

[SaSaSushi]

Interesting to note, my newly received Week 05 iMac does not need this update, so they must have had it rock 'n rolling for a while

How is your week 5? No flickering problems? Yellow tinge??

[tomacintosh]

How is your week 5? No flickering problems? Yellow tinge??

Neither, very pleased indeed :D

[msbenn67]

I have a week 50 iMac (27' i7) and it is running beautifully with no flickering or yellowing. Should I risk upsetting the delicate balance of things and apply this update?

Thanks for the advice.

[patseguin]

I assume software update would show this if I needed it? I got my replacement 27" i7 today and software update it not showing needing any firmware updates.

[Jetson]

Is there anyone out there who had problems and downloaded this?

What happened?

[SaSaSushi]

I assume software update would show this if I needed it? I got my replacement 27" i7 today and software update it not showing needing any firmware updates.

As mentioned above, if this update is not appearing in Software Update for you then your iMac shipped with it already applied.

As for whether or not you should install the updates on a machine that is not experiencing any issues that is entirely up to the user to decide.

Being in that situation, I have yet to run either update. I am reading some initial hopeful reports on Apple's own discussion forums from some users with flickering that thus far have not had any problems after applying this latest update. We'll see as more reports continue to come in.

[Mr. Biggles]

Never had flicker since purchase and neither update has had an adverse effect. Week 46 i5.

[Morod]

I updated iTunes

Thanks for the heads-up on the iTunes update. I just got it. Having a 24" iMac, I didn't need the firmware update discussed here.

[SaSaSushi]

So I finally decided to go ahead and run both firmware updates on my week 47 i7 in spite of the fact that I wasn't experiencing any issues.

As others have reported, I see absolutely no difference at all post-update to pre-update: no problems before and no problems after. There is absolutely no difference in the quality of the display (color uniformity, etc) either, not that I was expecting one.

[Peace]

I have a week 50 iMac (27' i7) and it is running beautifully with no flickering or yellowing. Should I risk upsetting the delicate balance of things and apply this update?

Thanks for the advice.

I would and did. It's a firmware update for the graphics card.

Mine seems the same. I have the i7 and I've never had any problems with it and still don't.

[crobi222]

Me too I got my iMac i7 since January 7 and I have no problem at all on this machine, very nice machine.

I'm scare to do that update. But it seems here no one got problem so, I plunge???:confused:

I imagine if Apple post that for my iMac, this mean I need do it

[thederby]

my i7 was well bahaved for the first 3 weeks of ownership.

it then developed some intermittent flicker/glitching that, if let run long enough, would manifest itself as a full 25% downward shift in video (the dock would be about 25% from the top of the screen) until reboot.

that's when i applied the first firmware update and since then only had an occasional flicker.

i just applied the new update. i'll let you know how it goes in a week or so. :D

[ugp]

I updated mine and everything went smoothly and everything seems to be working perfectly still.

[SandynJosh]

This means Apple is accelerating the solutions to the problems (flickering and yellowing), and I am happy with it cause I am holding to order one through the AppleOnline (I am waiting for more than 2 months in a reseller) until some definitive solution is held, especially for the yellowing, which I hope will be in 2\3 weeks, as Apple said it that internal memo.

Yeah, the yellowing problem has been solved. Apple already sent me my blue-tinged glasses.

[MacMur]

I have a week 2 I7 and it ran just fine for 4 days and then today, Flicker and short burst black screen.

I installed the latest upgrade and have not seen a glitch since. Here 's hoping.

[dalvin]

the graphics firmware update didn't fix my flickering.

this new display firmware update has! it's been an hour and i've had no flickering so far, normally i'd see it within 5 minutes after it's booted.

Week 51 iMac 2.8Ghz i7

[macduke]

The iPad also has IPS. Let's hope it doesn't have similar problems!

[ThunderSkunk]

About 6 months ago, I noticed our 24" iMac has an unevenly yellowed screen. I promptly put it out of mind completely. Still have our Applecare coverage on it. Wonder if this will be coverable...

[iWoz]

I dont really need this either, but what the heck!! It's FREE!!!! :rolleyes:

[petsk]

Will this update fix the yellow tinge? Does anyone know?

As far as I know/knew the yellow tinge is a hardware fault and cannot be fixed with software. The last firmware update didn't solve the problem either.

[SaSaSushi]

Will this update fix the yellow tinge? Does anyone know?

No, I'm sorry it won't. The main purpose of this update (and the last one) was to address the flickering issues.

As far as I know/knew the yellow tinge is a hardware fault and cannot be fixed with software. The last firmware update didn't solve the problem either.

That is correct. If you have a yellow tinge or other color uniformity abnormalities the only "fix" is an LCD panel replacement.

[ma2ha3]

Is the lemon fixed??
I really want to know.
I am still dithering between 27 imac or build my own 30 inch, gigabyte ud5, 920, oc 4GHz you know what computer.

[Bodycalming]

I have a week 50 iMac (27' i7) and it is running beautifully with no flickering or yellowing. Should I risk upsetting the delicate balance of things and apply this update?

Thanks for the advice.

I have a Week 50 iMac (27" i7) that has Black/Flicker and a 'Split Screen', that is to say the Dock moves to the top of screen, for no good reason, then when I move the mouse pointer to where the Dock should be (at the bottom) the pointer appears at the top along with the misplaced Dock. I have installed the firmware update this morning, I will see what happens before the new replacement iMac 27" i7 arrives this week. Ex PC Windows user, even with these problems I will not be going back to Windows.

[JBeylovesyou]

Guys, shoud I buy a iMac 21,5" now or wait 2/3 months for an update ?

[Povilas]

Guys, shoud I buy a iMac 21,5" now or wait 2/3 months for an update ?

If you need it now buy now, if you can wait and it's not life or death question you can wait.

[joeeey]

Will this update fix the yellow tinge? Does anyone know?

As far as I know/knew the yellow tinge is a hardware fault and cannot be fixed with software. The last firmware update didn't solve the problem either.

I was watching channel 11 news (NY) this morning and they said Apple states the update will fix the flickering and yellow tinge on the screen.

[SaSaSushi]

I was watching channel 11 news (NY) this morning and they said Apple states the update will fix the flickering and yellow tinge on the screen.

Who do you trust, Channel 11 or Apple? ;)

About 27-inch iMac Display Firmware Update 1.0 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL998?viewlocale=en_US)

Updates the display firmware on 27-inch iMac systems to address issues that may cause intermittent display flickering.

[DarrenC]

How can you tell what week it was manufactured?

[fobfob]

How can you tell what week it was manufactured?

Check out the "About this Mac". Click "More info". Serial number (system) is shown. If I'm not wrong, its the 3rd and 4th digit after the W. eg. mine is W8945XXXXXX = week 45.

Still waiting for the flicker to come back. Nothing yet, but it's only been a few hours.

EDIT: just got a flicker. Oh well, back to the drawing board Steve!

[SaSaSushi]

How can you tell what week it was manufactured?

The 4th and 5th digits of your iMac's serial number are the production week. For example, my week 47 i7 begins W8947xxxxxx.

lol, fobfob seems to have posted while I was typing this one out. :)

[randyhudson]

The iPad also has IPS. Let's hope it doesn't have similar problems!

Good point. My Lenovo Thinkpad has IPS too, I hope it's screen doesn't start flickering. Oh, wait, it doesn't share a single piece of hardware in common with the iMac. Guess I don't have to worry then.

[rvacs]

Seems this Firmware Update has broken the video card's ability to display in Windows 7. Windows 7 was working fine through BootCamp but now it doesn't after this firmware update...

Just an FYI....:(

[SaSaSushi]

Seems this Firmware Update has broken the video card's ability to display in Windows 7. Windows 7 was working fine through BootCamp but now it doesn't after this firmware update...

Just an FYI....:(

Windows 7 is still working fine for me in Boot Camp. :)

Are you sure it's not something else going on? What exactly do you mean by "broken the video card's ability to display"?

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate on my i7 with both firmware updates.

[ArroyaDael]

Bodycalming

Sorry for you trouble!
This is really OFF topic,but could you please share your wallpaper?
arroyadael@gmail.com

And where do you get them btw?
Thanks!

[swhay]

My base 27" iMac was built in week 47, and I just noticed (a week or two ago) the flickering. I leave mine on all the time (let it sleep). I do notice that if i reboot it, the flickering goes away. I can't say how long between flickering, cause it only happened to me once. I did apply the latest patch yesterday. So we will see. I don't have any of the yellowing some owners are experiencing.

Other than that I am a VERY happy new Mac owner (sold my Hackintosh for the real thing once I was comfortable with OS X).

[fobfob]

still flickering :mad:

[hakr]

Windows 7 is still working fine for me in Boot Camp. :)

Are you sure it's not something else going on? What exactly do you mean by "broken the video card's ability to display"?

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate on my i7 with both firmware updates.

I installed the firmware updates.

I run Win 7 via VMWARE Fusion via 3.+. I just started it up and it appears to be running properly. I used to use BootCamp with a previous version of Windows, but I thought it a pain in the ass to have to reboot to go from OSX+ to Windows Vista and the reverse. I've only a few "must have" Windows apps and all seem to run properly under VMWARE Fusion.

[SaSaSushi]

Bodycalming

Sorry for you trouble!
This is really OFF topic,but could you please share your wallpaper?
arroyadael@gmail.com

And where do you get them btw?
Thanks!

The desktop background he's using is a default Snow Leopard wallpaper called "Snow Leopard Prowl". It comes preinstalled with SL so you definitely have it on your i7.

System Preferences > Desktop&Screen Saver > Apple > Nature

That said a great source for awesome 2560x1440 desktop backgrounds is Interfacelift (http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/downloads/date/any/).

[Maserati7200]

The iPad also has IPS. Let's hope it doesn't have similar problems!
These problems it has nothing to do with it being IPS. The previous 24" iMacs, and the ACD's are IPS and they don't have these problems.

[ArroyaDael]

SaSaSushi thanks!
And for the link too!

[thittesd0375]

First update did not fix the issue. Second update seems to have done it. Stress tested it last night for about 30 mins with WOW running at full settings.

[JimAtLaw]

still flickering :mad:
So you have both the first and the second updates and your machine is still flickering? I.e., they still have not fixed the issue?

[ghostface147]

They don't build them like they used to. Who tests these hardware designs?

[bcb23]

I have wanted to order the i7 for my wife, but have been hesitant since I have heard and seen so many issues. At the Apple store the other day, there were eight (8) people in line with their 27 inchers trying to exchange/refund them because of the problems. I am interested to see if this resolves the issue. Also, I noticed the shipping delay is back to 2 weeks from the 3 weeks it was yesterday.

[dr_lha]

I have a Week 50 iMac (27" i7) that has Black/Flicker and a 'Split Screen', that is to say the Dock moves to the top of screen, for no good reason, then when I move the mouse pointer to where the Dock should be (at the bottom) the pointer appears at the top along with the misplaced Dock. I have installed the firmware update this morning, I will see what happens before the new replacement iMac 27" i7 arrives this week. Ex PC Windows user, even with these problems I will not be going back to Windows.
Yeah, we have two week 52 27' i7 iMacs at work, one flickers and one has shown the screen wrapping you've shown in your image.

So far the flickering one seems OK with the firmware update, no idea on the other one as the problem was so bad its not been plugged in awaiting either a response from Apple or this current firmware update.

[kohei]

After this update it seems that my Week 42 C2D's yellow Tinge problem is greatly improved!! I would say the difference is quite obvious on my machine!

Apple well done! ;)

[BATTLE BORN]

week 47: flickered after 4 days and exchanged
week 52: bad flickering right out of the box. exchanged
week 53: no problems before, or after the update. I've been working it pretty hard for just over a week without a hitch.

.....however now that I'm looking for it, the bottom looks a tad yellow. crap.
I'll do the yellow tinge test after work. it might all be in my head

either way I'll probably keep this machine and just have it repaired. it's been a workhorse so far.

[Mr. Biggles]

After this update it seems that my Week 42 C2D's yellow Tinge problem is greatly improved!! I would say the difference is quite obvious on my machine!

Apple well done! ;)

You do realize that this 'fix' address's flicker problems, not the 'yellow' gradient problems, right?

[WilliamG]

You do realize that this 'fix' address's flicker problems, not the 'yellow' gradient problems, right?

No kidding. People seriously see what they want to see...

[WilliamG]

I have wanted to order the i7 for my wife, but have been hesitant since I have heard and seen so many issues. At the Apple store the other day, there were eight (8) people in line with their 27 inchers trying to exchange/refund them because of the problems. I am interested to see if this resolves the issue. Also, I noticed the shipping delay is back to 2 weeks from the 3 weeks it was yesterday.

8 people, eh? They were 8 people, each of them with 1 (one) iMac 27" model waiting to return it, is what you're saying? :rolleyes:

[JerseyMike73]

My week 46 i5 had minor flickering issues out of the box. They became less frequent with the first update, but had color problems (the screen would tint slightly bluer 5 seconds after restart or wake). Color issue has been corrected with this new update, and so far, no flickers.

I don't think Apple ever actually acknowledged the yellowing, even though it has clearly been addressed with this update.

[clarksonknight]

I don't have an iMac, but I've noticed since my last update that my late 08 MBP's screen is flickering quite noticeably. Very annoying.

[spyd4r]

what about the 35 page discussion thread about every late 2008/ early 2009 mac book pro having the flicker while on power save mode .. or the NVidia 9400 chipset.


http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1807105&start=0&tstart=0

[Mainyehc]

My week 46 i5 had minor flickering issues out of the box. They became less frequent with the first update, but had color problems (the screen would tint slightly bluer 5 seconds after restart or wake). Color issue has been corrected with this new update, and so far, no flickers.

I don't think Apple ever actually acknowledged the yellowing, even though it has clearly been addressed with this update.

My week 48 i5 also makes this weird tint change about 1-2 seconds after waking from sleep, but actually I don't think mine turns blue... I think it just reverts to a whiter tint after having progressively turned yellow the night before; the fact that the screen has some kind of "tint memory" leads me to think that the yellowing problem is either on the display itself or on the graphics card, and is not heat-related (otherwise, why would it wake momentarily to a yellowish screen, despite being at room temperature when waking?).

On a different note, my iMac has been showing very slight and rare symptoms of graphics corruption. Not a full blown screen displacement as usually reported, but just small flashes (for no longer than roughly one frame) of garbled horizontal bands on top of whatever is displayed on the screen, with no image displacement at all (strangely, I haven't seen reports of minor glitches, just from extreme cases of graphic corruption or screen flashes, which fortunately didn't affect my computer – yet?). I've counted, I'm guessing, less than ten flashes during the last two weeks: the first two on the same day, the second an isolated episode, maybe a couple some other day, and yesterday it seemed they were getting more frequent but I still got no more than four flashes.

Here's to hoping that, my case not being so severe, the second update fixes those glitches for good. If I get any more flashes, I'll let you know (and will try to get my iMac replaced, even after the legally-required 15-day period, because my screen is also slighty yellowish on the lower-right corner).

[clarksonknight]

Heh, hadn't even seen that as I'm not a frequent visitor. Will have to look into this more.

[Ecoh]

On a different note, my iMac has been showing very slight and rare symptoms of graphics corruption. Not a full blown screen displacement as usually reported, but just small flashes (for no longer than roughly one frame) of garbled horizontal bands on top of whatever is displayed on the screen, with no image displacement at all (strangely, I haven't seen reports of minor glitches, just from extreme cases of graphic corruption or screen flashes, which fortunately didn't affect my computer – yet?). I've counted, I'm guessing, less than ten flashes during the last two weeks: the first two on the same day, the second an isolated episode, maybe a couple some other day, and yesterday it seemed they were getting more frequent but I still got no more than four flashes.

Here's to hoping that, my case not being so severe, the second update fixes those glitches for good. If I get any more flashes, I'll let you know (and will try to get my iMac replaced, even after the legally-required 15-day period, because my screen is also slighty yellowish on the lower-right corner).

My i7 was doing the garbled horizontal bands, never flickered though. There was nothing wrong with the screen but yellow gradient, week 46, then just two weeks ago it started the horizontal banding problem. Apple support told me to do PRAM reset, and if that didn't help, bring in for replacement of graphics card. It has been over a week now and the screen has behaved, the PRAM reset seems to have fixed it.

[FearlessFreep]

These problems it has nothing to do with it being IPS. The previous 24" iMacs, and the ACD's are IPS and they don't have these problems.
They also weren't LED-backlit.

[Bubba Satori]

They don't build them like they used to. Who tests these hardware designs?

The people who buy them.

[kohei]

You do realize that this 'fix' address's flicker problems, not the 'yellow' gradient problems, right?yeah I know, but somehow that really looks better. Anyway...maybe it is only the 'snappier' effect :D

[Maserati7200]

They also weren't LED-backlit.
Okay, but that poster was implying that these problems are here because Apple is using IPS screens.
But Apple has been using LED backlit screens since 2007. However, the iMac was the first combination of a LED backlight and an IPS screen on an Apple product, however there is no reason that this combination should cause any problems. It's most likely faulty screens/backlights or driver issues.

[Bubba Satori]

These problems it has nothing to do with it being IPS. The previous 24" iMacs, and the ACD's are IPS and they don't have these problems.

They had a different problem. The yellow gradient. We got a lot of those returned.

[lanceh5]

Just updated the display firmware on a 27" i7 W8945xxxxx. This iMac did not have any problems before and is working just fine. I shut down the iMac at night, it runs from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM every day.

[knewsom]

no problems here from the update, but I can surely confirm that it does NOTHING to address the yellow.

[dr_lha]

This update seems to have fixed my iMac's flickering problems, been using it all day and not seen any flickering. Previously I'd see it after using for about 30 mins. Great.

[fobfob]

So you have both the first and the second updates and your machine is still flickering? I.e., they still have not fixed the issue?

Correct. BTW by flickering, what I mean is that every so often (maybe once every 2-10 minutes or so) the screen will momentarily go black (or fade). It comes right back, and it happens in the blink of any eye. It is so quick that at first I thought it was my imagination. Now I can spot it every time. It's very annoying, far more so than the yellow tint.

[7031]

I haven't installed the update yet, but I actually managed to stop the flickering problems by just increasing my fanspeeds. Don't live by this yet though, I haven't actually tested it much today since I have a lot of coursework etc to do, but you get the point. I'm starting to suspect it's heat related, but I don't think it got much hotter than 70C at most.

Also, the fact that it's getting worse over time implies to me that it's a hardware issue, and that this update either has:
A: The placebo effect
B: Masked the problem (underclocking, perhaps?)

[maccauni]

I have had the more rare blank screen when woken from sleep issue, BUT tentatively pleased to announce that the update has so far seemed to have fixed the problem.

Around about 70-80% of the time when i woke the iMac up the screen would be blank and further attempts of sleeping and waking would be required to get the screen to display.

iMac C2D week 41

EDIT!!! well turns out the update hasn't fixed my problem as I just got a blank screen from wake. Oh well I guess it really is time to box her up and take her back her back. I think i jinxed it by posting here.

[SaSaSushi]

I haven't installed the update yet, but I actually managed to stop the flickering problems by just increasing my fanspeeds. Don't live by this yet though, I haven't actually tested it much today since I have a lot of coursework etc to do, but you get the point. I'm starting to suspect it's heat related, but I don't think it got much hotter than 70C at most.

For me a large part of the iMac's beauty is it's next to silent operation. I'd hardly consider that a fix myself and it's why I never mess with the fan speeds.

Also, the fact that it's getting worse over time implies to me that it's a hardware issue, and that this update either has:
A: The placebo effect

This argument might be made for those who no longer see yellow tinges they detected before the update but it hardly applies to flickering which has either stopped or not.

B: Masked the problem (underclocking, perhaps?)

I doubt that. I had no flickering prior to the update and none after and my GPU temps have not changed appreciably either.

[mrjoshzombie]

after 12 hours of working on the computer with the update, i did not get a single bit of flickering. they may of actually fixed it this time.

i assumed it was a firmware/driver thing because under windows 7 my screen NEVER flickered.

[bpokosh]

after 12 hours of working on the computer with the update, i did not get a single bit of flickering. they may of actually fixed it this time.

i assumed it was a firmware/driver thing because under windows 7 my screen NEVER flickered.

I've had my 27" for a little over a month and have only had flickering issues come up once in OS X. It has occurred multiple times in Windows 7. I've been playing Mass Effect 2 in boot camp and after playing for a while the top back of the case gets extremely hot. That's when the flickering starts.

I haven't had any flickering since the update but that doesn't really mean anything.

[i7QuadCoreMania]

I haven't noticed flickering but didn't really push the machine hard. I did however apply the firmware update which updated fine, been running it since yesterday.

Hopefully will not have to experience any flickering:rolleyes:

[BibiDane]

I'm following this thread because I'm wondering if I should update the firmware or not.
First of all I am not having any problems with flickering or yellow color. My iMac is from Dec 09, and I did't update the previous graphics driver either.

So, do I need to update? If yes, do I need to do the previous graphics update first?

Thanks.

[Mainyehc]

My i7 was doing the garbled horizontal bands, never flickered though. There was nothing wrong with the screen but yellow gradient, week 46, then just two weeks ago it started the horizontal banding problem. Apple support told me to do PRAM reset, and if that didn't help, bring in for replacement of graphics card. It has been over a week now and the screen has behaved, the PRAM reset seems to have fixed it.

Hmmm... Interesting. I did a PRAM reset on my own the day before applying the update, but I don't really remeber if I got the last couple of horizontal band flashes before or after doing it. So now if, as I hope, my iMac also behaves, it'll be a moot point.

As for the fan speed and noise, I always thought it might be too low (and good, for me at least) to be true and good (for the iMac, that is). So I installed Fan Control and lowered the upper and lower temperature threshold, and slightly increased the fan speed to 1300-1400 RPM, which is still very quiet by my standards (and is easily masked by my über-noisy LaCie Quadra external hard drive). I think I'm getting very reasonable mean GPU temps., at about 50ºC. I'm just hoping that this doesn't reduce the fans' lifespan significantly, as their speed would rise well above the default lower limit during processor intensive tasks anyway.

[SonOfBytes]

Even tho it said the update only addressed the flickers I hoped it would address the vertical stripes a minority of us are also having.

For pics of my issue after the update see

http://www.slayford.com/drupal/node/4

Oh well :(

[xraydoc]

Even tho it said the update only addressed the flickers I hoped it would address the vertical stripes a minority of us are also having.

For pics of my issue after the update see

http://www.slayford.com/drupal/node/4

Oh well :(

Dude, I'd be taking that iMac back to the store right now if I were you. I don't think a firmware update is going to help.

[IJBrekke]

A couple days here and no flickering so far! I'll keep you guys posted.

[BigGroll]

So Ive never had any flickering issues before (Ive had my 27 inch Imac for about three months) now I downloaded the firmware update, and now I DO have flickering! Or at least what I am assuming is flickering. My screen randomly flicks black and white bars (looks kinda like snow from a tv). This is incredibly frustrating! What should I do???

I really cant afford to be without my Imac! Im a student :(

[SaSaSushi]

So Ive never had any flickering issues before (Ive had my 27 inch Imac for about three months) now I downloaded the firmware update, and now I DO have flickering! Or at least what I am assuming is flickering. My screen randomly flicks black and white bars (looks kinda like snow from a tv). This is incredibly frustrating! What should I do???

I really cant afford to be without my Imac! Im a student :(

I've heard some stories like yours which is why I held off running the updates on my own i7 for the longest time. I've had no problems myself after finally going ahead and flashing the updates. It didn't flicker before and it doesn't flicker now.

First off, have you run BOTH firmware updates? It is important that you do both the GPU firmware update (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL984) from December as well as the just released display update (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL998).

If so, sorry to say but I think you're left with no choice but to send it/take it in to Apple. You cannot reverse firmware updates or rather, Apple doesn't generally offer that option.

[JimAtLaw]

So Ive never had any flickering issues before (Ive had my 27 inch Imac for about three months) now I downloaded the firmware update, and now I DO have flickering! Or at least what I am assuming is flickering. My screen randomly flicks black and white bars (looks kinda like snow from a tv). This is incredibly frustrating! What should I do???

I really cant afford to be without my Imac! Im a student :(

The fact that your Mac wasn't flickering before the update doesn't mean it didn't have the issue - this is an intermittent problem, people's machines have started flickering a month or more after they arrived, and some go weeks between bouts.

All this means is that the update does not (or at least not always) work to prevent flickering on a machine that has the problem. Return your machine, or be prepared to live with it indefinitely.

[bennettk]

I installed the update on my 27-inch iMac, which had not shown any previous problems with flickering. However, it now takes over 3 minutes to boot up. 75 seconds of gray screen with the Apple logo and a spinning clock, then 105 seconds of blue screen, and finally the login screen. Also, my external Time Machine disk doesn't show up when I boot.

Any ideas? I re-selected the internal drive as the boot drive.

Thanks.

[panzer06]

Guys, shoud I buy a iMac 21,5" now or wait 2/3 months for an update ?

My wife just got one and she loves it. No issues after a week. We'll see long term. Hopefully it'll be fine. No issues with any of our Macs.

Cheers,

[bamtan]

Haven't had any flickering in OSX at all, before and after the firmware fix.

Seem to be getting flickering in Windows though, mainly after I've spent a few hours in a game and go back to desktop. It's not as severe as the videos I've seen, but a tiny flicker every few minutes or so.

I'd assume it's either a driver problem or heavy duty/use over time on the display or graphics card is causing it.

[swhay]

I thought Apple got the Nehalem processors first before anyone else when they came out? Might be the same thing this time, they might be released Q4 2011 to everyone else.