27" ACD infuriating me.... Genius bar/apple care wont help?

[ZestyOne]

I feel I'm in a rut and its extremely frustrating...

I have a 27" Cinema Display I bought probably 7 months ago. I have 5 months left of warranty on it. About 1-2 months ago it started severely 'buzzing', similar to when a cellphone rings near a pair of speakers. It would only buzz occassionally though, but when it would start it wouldnt stop for quite some time.

It's completely relative to brightness.... the dimmer you make the monitor the less it buzzes. It only goes away completely when the brightness is at 0%. It also increases noise (slightly) when the computer is high on CPU load. IE.. when it boots up and the mac is doing its thing at startup it buzzes more, then lessens about 10%.

I tried EVERY thing i could think of (unplug everything except for monitor, check phones, check surrounding speakers, isolate everything to a new outlet in the house, only plug the computer in and thats it, try 2 different macs, etc etc etc. List goes on and on of stuff I tried).

I brought it to genius bar and they couldn't hear it in the loud ass store, and it didnt make the noise. So... they couldnt help me

They then recommended I bring it to a 'licensed technician', but not an apple store. I brought it there and left it for 5 days... the whole time they ran it on FULL load 24/7, and couldnt reproduce any sounds. I had them try different stuff and no avail.... they never heard anything so i had to take the stupid monitor back home.

Now... its been like 4 weeks since i picked it up and it hasnt buzzed once. It started buzzing tonight, so i got super pissed and starting unplugging everything in the house (the only thing I can think of is 'poor quality' power, or dirty or whatever... even though its plugged into an APC). I tried once again removing all kinds of **** etc.

I unplugged EVERYTHING at this point, and the monitor was buzzing, simply just plugged into the wall (it wasnt like this before I dont think). Computers off, etc.

I unplugged the power cord from the back of the monitor while it was on (as opposed to removing the plug from the wall), and plugged it back in, re-seating it thinking the power cord in the back might be loose. Now my monitor doesnt turn on at all........
its literally dead.

I'm so mad here, for whatever reason (history?) i feel im going to take it there and theyre just going to tell me i'm sol like the other two times. If apple is so good about quality and whatnot i feel I shouldnt have to own a piece of **** monitor that buzzes (and now doesnt work).

I provided video proof from all angles, etc. They all just turned me away

Is there anything you can recommend so I can get this exchanged without messing around with the bottom tier? Id like to get in and get out with a new monitor (or another solution... if there was one)...

 

[mohsy90]

Well considering that the monitor is now completely dead, you have all the proof right there. Tell them that there is something definitely wrong with it and have them re-examine it. Bringing in a product based on some noises can be very difficult to diagnose and reproduce and usually Apple turns you away, even if you bring in video proof. But now that the display is completely dead, they have to take a look at it and see what caused it to die. Bring it in, ask to speak to a manager, explain him the situation and no doubt he will have it repaired back to normal.
Now as far as getting it exchanged for a new one, that's unlikely. They have all the parts they need to repair these displays in shop and will replace as many parts as they need to just to keep from having to give you a new/refurbished replacement.
As long as its under warranty your fine. If they still deny you and make up some ********* excuse regarding how you handled the product, buy Applecare and extend your warranty for an additional two years. Their AppleCare reps will definitely give you more support and ask to speak to a senior tech and complain the ***** out of the employees and the quality of the product. And watch, you'll either have your local apple store calling you back or they'll give you a FedEx postage to have you mail the item to them and they'll likely just send you a new replacement.

----------

Just to give you my story:

I had a 27" i bought a little over a year ago. Went in complaining about some horizontal lines i saw showing up here and there. They would come up and then disappear. I still had 2 months of warranty left and brought the display in and told them to take a look at it. They tried everything to reproduce the lines, but no luck and just gave it back to me. So 2 weeks after my warranty ends, the display goes crazy and all i seen is colored horizontal lines in front of me, totally impairing the image. I knew this was related to the previous lines that continued to show up here and there over the last few months. So i took it back in and those pricks just refused to replace it, seeing as my warranty expired.

So this is what i did:
Friend had the same display, just purchased brand new a month prior. I bought the tools to open his display up and took his lcd panel and swapped it with mine. So now his display had the messed up horizontal lines and my display was like new. I had him take his display to the apple store and they replaced the panel with a new one (haha). That's how i screwed Apple over for what they did to me. Their products used to last, now it just seems like every other item they sell has an issue within the first year.

 

[zigzagg321]

Well now that it doesn't power on, and its under warranty, I don't see Apple doing anything less than fixing or replacing your ACD.

 

[ZestyOne]

**** YEEAHHH!! After i made this thread i went back and the monitor turned on just fine (while buzzing). I thought this was going to be another wild goose chase with the end result being me walking home carrying a huge heavy broken monitor, after the monitor just 'works' perfectly at the apple store.

Turns it died RIGHT there while he was using it. took it in for repair.

FINALLY!

I hope that is the part thats broken now and i dont go pick it up and bring it home and its fubar.

 

[richpjr]

Do you have dimmer switches on the lights in your house? Those are known to affect other electronics.