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

Today, I received my badly-smudged 2010 iMac back with a new display, under quality program EM288, after choosing a different Apple Store from the one I went to 18 months ago, where I had been refused a replacement. I had to take the machine to the store because of a hard disk failure (which was also covered under a well publicized quality program called E1), and I explained the display issue using the words published over the last six months on this forum, mainly 'LED contamination' and 'quality program'. I tried to give the impression that I knew about Apple replacing displays with LED contamination out-of-warranty (I do not have AppleCare). After a brief discussion about the two issues, the not very talkative Apple store Genius went away for quite a while, then came back apologizing for the delay and explaining that he had to read an article about the display fault. He made it clear that this was not an in-warranty replacement, but a quality program...
I picked the iMac up again today (not even 48 hours later - impressive), a different Genius brought it out and promptly told me that my bill for today was $500 something - when I pointed out the quality program he consulted three more Geniuses and then reduced the bill to $5 or so with a customer offer discount (I did not have to pay the last $5 either, they just left it on the bill).

I hope this experience helps others to get their display replaced, especially folks like me who have not had the courage yet to attempt the do-it-yourself cleaning! Thanks to all posters that have led me towards the right clues to use at the Genius bar. And thanks to Oggy for starting the thread and for the detailed walk-thorugh which I have looked at so much but hopefully will never have to go through with...

A pity that Apple took so long to recognize the fault!

I am so pleased to have found this thread, and will attempt to clean my mid 2010 imac in line with all this advice - btw I am a smoker and this imac sat behind a sash window about 4 metres from a busy London dual carriageway! I think the genius bar would've slaughtered me for my environmental negligence!

Ive read through these many posts over about 3 nights and my mind is a bit mushy as to the best cleaning procedure when I get inside the lcd - someone had nicotine stains and used washing up liquid?

appreciate any cleaning advice before I go to it

well no comments on the cleaning so I just re-read everything and got the advice - I am also replacing the wd 1gb hd with a wd 2gb hd - and shift dust inside other parts - its a 3 pronged attack which I hope will solve a) my display probs b) my HD probs c) my frequent crash to black screen probs

I will take pickies and video and feed back

Can anybody advise me what my options are i've a 2011 i5 27" iMac that i think has dust under the screen (tried taking the first screen off but its behind the 2nd lcd) I've not got applecare.

Are people getting these screens replaced outside of warranty?

I'm booked in for a genius bar appointment sunday i don't hold out much hope.If they won't do it i'll go down the diy route.

I'm going to point it the problem is quite common online etc fingers crossed

Success took my iMac in this afternoon and the guy knew then problem straight away and said it was covered even though I'm 8 months out of warranty.They fitted a new LCD that took just over an hour & half I've gotta go back to collect the iMac very impressed!!

My preventitive fix

I had my display replaced for the second time October 2012. I knew that the dust would return if I did nothing about it as it had within months of the first replacement. I went to the hobby store and picked up some rare earth magnets probably twice the thickness of the glass. I attached these to the existing magnets in the mac's case which hold on the front glass. I replaced the glass leaving a gap about the thickness of the glass accross the top and halfway down each side. Since the theory is the pressure inside the case is forcing air into the display this was meant to relieve this pressure. It has been almost 11 months now and my display looks as good as it did when it was replaced last October.

I live in Arizona, for those that don't know this is the sanoran desert. Dust, we have more dust than you could imagine here. The problem has nothing to do with the location of your mac it's just a bad case design. You don't need to take your mac apart and tape up the display to prevent this from happening. Once it's there it's either replace or take your chances and clean it as the guide here shows. Once it's clean this is an easy way to prevent the reoccurance of dust accumulation.

I thought that this might let dust enter through the gap but I haven't even had to pull the glass to clean it yet. I hope this may help those that have had their displays replaced and those that took them apart and cleaned them.

I only put magnets across the top portion, the glass flexes enough that halfway down it attaches again to the rest of the original magnets.

iMac 24" early 2009 shadow lines

Hi,

I have an iMac 24" early 2009.

I've been reading through the whole thread but a lot of people don't post pictures of their display problem and I haven't seen one that would look like the same issue as on my display.

Here's pic of mine:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


It's not very visible for now but usually these things evolve. Right now, you can see uneven light, horizontal large shadow lines and vertical thin lines. When screen is on for some time, it gets a little bit better than right when you turn it on.
(A few irregular stains in the right upper corner are on the outside and not a problem.)



Anyone had a similar issue and knows if a "simple" cleaning Oggy describes would solve the problem?

Also, isn't the cleaning described in Oggy's posts the same that can be done by an Apple service for about 50 euros? Seems to me it's worth the money for those who don't dare to do it themselves.



Here's my story for those who are interested (my main questions are above though, if you don't want to read everything).

iMac is out of warranty, I called two services and described the problem, one said it's probably dust and that I would have to replace the whole screen which would cost 500-700 euros, the other said it's dust that can be cleaned for 50 euros.
I'm also thinking about cleaning it on my own with help of tutorial in this thread.



Another thing I'm considering is calling AppleCare again and insist on fixing it for free since it's a common problem and from reading different forums, it seems that when people insist and the issue is common, they often get a free repair.


I am honestly dissapointed by Apple, when something costs a lot of money you expect the quality will follow.


I think a cleaning might solve the problem but wouldn't like to spend 50 euros or take a risk of cleaning it myself for nothing.



Thanks for help in advance!

Two kinds of Cleaning: Outside and inside the Display housing

As far as I know, the Apple Service will not clean the inside of the display as Oggy showed in his photographs. For no money in the world directly for clients.

What they do with returned displays (refurbishing) is another chapter.

What you get for 50 $ is a cleaning under the first glossy glass.

Please correct me if I am wrong in any detail.

Thanks for the reply Gebekophli, what you say makes sense… I guess most people wouldn't take a risk to repair it themselves to save 50 eur.

Cleaning they told me about was at least cleaning inside the computer though, not just the first glossy glass. But since I don't see how that would be connected to uneven light on the screen, it was probably a missunderstanding.

The most important, functional cleaning

is the "blowing-out" of any dust and particles out of the several airways of the cooling systems.
Inside the 27" iMac 2011 and the former years there are three of them, with three fans and two heat pipe lamellar metal-to-air heat exchangers, which tend to collect any particles out of the normal room air.
It is essential to clean these airways after a not definite period of usage, lets say, after four or five years, depending on several factors as "environment" or "intensity and duration of usage" using an air-pistol connected to a compressor.

This cleaning procedure requires a removal of the display in total. 50 $ would be a good price, if this procedure is included. It It would not be sufficient, just to hoover the outer slots of the inlet and outlet of the cooling air.

But, excuse me, this functional cleaning is not part of this thread

iMac Early 2009 pics

Update: we opened the display and cleaned it inside, it was dust indeed... however, it didn't all go away, even though I did press a bit to make sure it will be cleaned well since you don't want to open it again... It looks like dust/dirt really sticks to it with time so I should have probably used a glass cleaning detergent like someone did in this thread.

It is better than before so I'll keep it like this and won't open it again unless it gets worse with time.

Someone wanted us to post pics of our open iMacs so here they are. I took only two, was too stressed and busy during the procedure to think about taking more!

I also want to say big thanks to Oggy and the community for this thread!


Display before it was opened:



Opened iMac 24" Early 2009 with a SSD in place of the hard drive:

Success! I finally did this! Been thinking about it ever since this thread started.

(The smuginess seemed to stop progressing after a while and was mainly on the edges of the screen and I just got used to it.)

But the SSD I had put in there died. When I replaced that I decided to go for it. Getting the display panel out of the frame was a bit beyond my comfort zone but I made it through.

Thanks Oggy and others that made this possible for me!

My screen is now nice and clear, edge to edge. Woohoo!

After three months of use, my late-2013 iMac has shown signs of smudges. I'm still under AppleCare and would avail the cleaning/replacement once it gets to the point wherein it is annoying to look at.

minimalism said:

After three months of use, my late-2013 iMac has shown signs of smudges. I'm still under AppleCare and would avail the cleaning/replacement once it gets to the point wherein it is annoying to look at.

Click to expand...

I think that's probably smudges on the outside of the glass and something you can tackle yourself. From late 2012 onwards the LCD screens are bonded to the glass, so you should not get dust or dirt between LCD and glass.

JustMartin said:

I think that's probably smudges on the outside of the glass and something you can tackle yourself. From late 2012 onwards the LCD screens are bonded to the glass, so you should not get dust or dirt between LCD and glass.

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure, we had a 2011 iMac 27" and it got replaced by the apple store last year with the early 2013 model (great customer service).

In the past 2 months we've noticed smudges on the 2013 model behind the glass. Luckily we bought applecare again, so one day we will lug it down to the apple store and get it repaired.

JustMartin said:

I think that's probably smudges on the outside of the glass and something you can tackle yourself. From late 2012 onwards the LCD screens are bonded to the glass, so you should not get dust or dirt between LCD and glass.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean, but the smudges are behind the colored LCDs, similar to what oggy did as a fix. This part of the LCD I think isn't bonded unlike the bond of LCD and the front glass.

minimalism said:

I know what you mean, but the smudges are behind the colored LCDs, similar to what oggy did as a fix. This part of the LCD I think isn't bonded unlike the bond of LCD and the front glass.

Click to expand...

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Teardown/11936 (see step 5)

During the cleaning of my 2009 27 inch iMac I accidentally damaged one of the lcd cables (the ones at the top that connect to the little logic board on the back of the LCD)... Is there anyway to fix just this cable, or did I ruin my LCD and is that it?

When I turn it on now there's a big brown line running through the screen.

Any advice is appreciated.

fabian1323 said:

During the cleaning of my 2009 27 inch iMac I accidentally damaged one of the lcd cables (the ones at the top that connect to the little logic board on the back of the LCD)... Is there anyway to fix just this cable, or did I ruin my LCD and is that it?

When I turn it on now there's a big brown line running through the screen.

Any advice is appreciated.

Click to expand...

#WishingIDidn'tOpenMyiMac

Apple may repair it for you (for a price) call them and find out. Maybe your version of events however relates to you dropping the iMac while it was being moved vs the truth.

D

----------

Barb3 said:

Update: we opened the display and cleaned it inside, it was dust indeed... however, it didn't all go away, even though I did press a bit to make sure it will be cleaned well since you don't wante[/url][/URL]

Click to expand...

Is there anything duct tape can't fix? lolz.

Donoban said:

#WishingIDidn'tOpenMyiMac

Apple may repair it for you (for a price) call them and find out. Maybe your version of events however relates to you dropping the iMac while it was being moved vs the truth.

D

Click to expand...

I guess Apple will charge a lot for this won't they?... and I was gonna open the iMac anyway because of a stuck dvd, and for what it's worth.. the cleaning did work out nicely,.. the smudges are gone.. but yeah I do #WishIWasABitMoreCarefulWithThoseCables.. haha

fabian1323 said:

During the cleaning of my 2009 27 inch iMac I accidentally damaged one of the lcd cables (the ones at the top that connect to the little logic board on the back of the LCD)... Is there anyway to fix just this cable, or did I ruin my LCD and is that it?

When I turn it on now there's a big brown line running through the screen.

Any advice is appreciated.

Click to expand...

I have found parts/cables for my 21.5 2009 iMac on e-bay.

photosmike said:

I have found parts/cables for my 21.5 2009 iMac on e-bay.

Click to expand...

Hi, I've been looking for this part but the main problem is I don't know what to search for exactly... does anyone know the exact name of the cables, the gold coloured ones, at the top of the LCD that connects to the small logic board at the back of the LCD?

Thanks

Watch this video?. He removes the LCD logic board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8bRwQOcpsQ

ditto...

Michaelgtrusa said:

The issues concerning the imac can only be solve through management, where it all started within several suppliers also. This would take a complete redesign of many hardware components and that will take some time.

Click to expand...

Perfect example is the 27" with the 1/2dim backlight. Typically the left strip, having managed to succesfully repair the lamp connector...upon reassembly I noticed the plastic frame had to be adjusted to accomodate the connector. hence, due to the expanding thermoplastic as the lamp temp rose...it dislodges the solder connection laterally, approx. 0.5 mm. Moreover, the led housing is not adequately ventilated,as the solder appeared to be heated enough to cleave, and shear. Intensive component testing is lacking, to say the least. My maclients have expressed concerns about staying with apple if thier support doesn't improve...

worldbrain said:

Perfect example is the 27" with the 1/2dim backlight. Typically the left strip, having managed to succesfully repair the lamp connector...upon reassembly I noticed the plastic frame had to be adjusted to accomodate the connector. hence, due to the expanding thermoplastic as the lamp temp rose...it dislodges the solder connection laterally, approx. 0.5 mm. Moreover, the led housing is not adequately ventilated,as the solder appeared to be heated enough to cleave, and shear. Intensive component testing is lacking, to say the least. My maclients have expressed concerns about staying with apple if thier support doesn't improve...

Click to expand...

I suspect that a lot of these issues are apple's suppliers and not just Apple. The 24' imac had many issues as well and apple got a pass on that.