It's chasing me down!

I thought it was finally over. I really thought I could get over this issue once and for all! At the office, the person sitting by my side has an iMac. Yes, it's that kind of iMac! S.N. starting with W86*... It had 4 lines running across the monitor, all four on the left side. Ever since i joined that office i warned the problem would get worse and vertical lines would pop as time went by.

Today the fifth mark on the display appeared... Was it a line? Oh no... it was much more than a line. It is a grey strip running all along the center of the monitor! About 4cm width defect on the screen panel which has rendered it completely unusable for work.

I really had believed the issue was well gone but now i feel it more alive than ever!

My personal iMac at home gained a dead pixel a few weeks ago.
An iMac at the office is ruined thanks to a factory defect.

I'm sure it will mark the end of that iMac. I'll try calling apple regarding the iMac @ the office. If you still have this issue that's my advice, call apple now and let them know!

All fine and perfect until...

Screen & lines are no longer an issue on my iMac. I had it repaired years ago and the problem never came back.

But lately this same mac has been acting strange. As i pressed the space bar to trigger Quick View on a video on my desktop, the computer violently shut down. I couldn't solve it by my own as there was no key combinations during startup (as there was no startup at all, no noise, no fans moving, no light on the screen, no beeps... I tried unplugging it and holding the power button as well and i had to take it to an apple tech.

I was thinking of a dead power supply or maybe the motherboard. Two days later apple tech called back saying it had been the memory modules. The machine was perfect, he had tried it with his own memory units and it worked fine.

Yesterday, after 3 days of use with my old memory, the computer shut off again while using Safari, not much workload, I believe!



I'd like to thank my friend Javier for his tip: By removing the memory while unplugged, then plugging it and pressing the power button, unplugging it again and putting the memory back again, i am now typing this on it!

So, thank you Javier! Thank you very much!

Things i'd like to say:

1. I love time machine! I made use of it almost every day and when my mac started failing, i had everything backed up and accessible through other computers!

2. My mac might shut off again. I don't know the reason why, but by removing the memory and putting it back, it boots.

3. I tried to write this on Apple Support Forums and I couldn't log in with my username.

"An account utilizing this email address already exists. Only one account per email address is allowed on Apple Support Communities."


I never thought i'd need help on a mac. Everything just works, and it's plain simple, but this error message intrigues me; i do not know how to proceed since I'm already logged with my account, not registering with the same email twice.

Merry Christmas from iMac lines

Merry Christmas & Best Wishes for a Happy New Year

Many years have passed since W860 iMacs were born. Lately the blog's been receiving comments that Apple is no longer repairing this screen issue.

Dave said: Im based in Dublin, Ireland. My iMac has 2 vertical blue lines and 1 yellow. Like the last poster I was also told the program to fix this problem ended in May 2011. I waited over an hour on the phone to Apple Support to be told "my supervisor couldn't justify repairing your imac due to the time elapsed since the May deadline". They also said my iMac was vintage model i.e. over 5 yrs old. In some ways I wish this problem had arisen sooner. At least then I would have had a chance of making the cut off.

So if your "vintage" mac just started experiencing the lines syndrome, I still insist as always, call Apple and get to know it officially from them! The more you call the better; get them to know your problem is not solved and receive an official answer, as this blog is merely informative and the information here posted is based on users' personal experiences.

I laughed when I read the vintage word applied to this Mac. I've been using it and over-using it from day one and recently expanded its RAM memory (an extremely easy and cheap process nowadays). I used to feel it a somehow slow on easy tasks, like simple browsing and maybe some flash content; you know how apple feels about flash player! Well, this update is amazing and if you had your iMac repaired and feel it's becoming more of a vintage object, try a memory upgrade and you'll feel it like a new mac!

Happy holidays to everyone and good luck with your affected iMacs

2010 - Happy holidays!

It's wonderful to hear all your success stories on the comments! I'm sorry I don't usually answer to your questions left on the comments. The answer is this blog itself.

The "iMac early 2006" is almost 5 years old now and it seems it's easier now to have it fixed than it was before. That's my only message to those still with lines, Call Apple Now!! And happy holidays to you all!

What do you see? I see iPhone 4G

So i guess everybody heard the story about the lost iPhone prototype, right?

http://gizmodo.com/5520471/the-tale-of-apples-next-iphone


Well, i'm reading today on the comments how some use their early 2006 iMacs JUST for playing internet radio and music.

Don't you think what you paid is worth more? Well, lucky you as well as those, there are also happy iMac owners who got their computers fixed FOR FREE. They phoned Apple. I phoned Apple back in the day. Today it's still my main computer.

4 years since they were unveiled. 3 years since the first buyers lost their warranty. Apple still fixes these things and you rather use it for music?

Phone Apple now if you want it fixed for free!! It's your right to have a Mac worth it's price :)

Good luck

What do you see? I see great works

Luciana Caporaletti's portfolio

What do you see? i see Lockerz redemptions

How has it been around here? I hope u had your macs fixed. Every now and then there's a comment talking about sucess. I'm really glad for it and hope that if there's still someone with an iMac w860 with trouble to get it fixed, sooner than later gets a proper fix as is deserved.

Oh by the way!
Anyone interested in LOCKERZ invitations? i've got many to give... contact me


Till next time!

What do you see? (II)

I see.. funny things! Today: Cats

Ficelle joue
por pve

I see all of this on my lines-less iMac. What do you see?

When you look at your iMac, what do you see?

I see beautiful wallpapers!

Call Apple, forget once and for all about the vertical lines! Make sure it’s a free repair. You should not have to pay for it since it’s factory defect and not your fault at all.

Every comment published here I read

It’s been a long time since my last post! But I read all the comments and have responded to some of them. What’s my global message? That’s right, to call Apple. I’m very happy most of you got your iMacs repaired at no cost.

Do all out there read this? Most of you got your iMacs repaired at no cost! Those who couldn’t were either complicated cases or people who didn’t insist enough.

I recently heard about a relative whose iMac at her office had suffered the vertical lines issue. She described it like a bar-code occupying the center third of the monitor. She was shocked to see this and remembered my case. She asked: My serial number is not W860...U2N, will they fix it? As a non apple employee all I could tell her was to make the damn Phone Call!!! They took the iMac for a week. Free repair, less than 5 minutes talking on the phone. See my point?

So sometimes I read comments like:

- I just got off the phone with Apple and they said they are sorry but they can't fix the LCD and that I should buy a external LCD.

Please, do not give up and keep calling :) Keep. Calling. Call. Ours is fixed and yours should be no exception.

Lately, here, on comments

I'm preety glad that lately all your comments are positive! Many many of you were able to get their iMacs fixed.

I'm not posting often as I believe this problem is now solved. Is yours not solved? CALL APPLE :D

see you on my next post

Dear Anonymous,

I have a 17" imac purchased in August 2006. About December 2007, when my imac was out of warranty, i started getting vertical lines of various colors. Today I have about 100 lines on my monitor. I have read the blogs and know Apple will do nothing to correct their malfunction and will continue to pack their stores with customers with fancy marketing strategies and some really neat gadgetry. Last week I stopped by the Apple store and got a quote to correct the problem, (replace the LCD monitor) for approximately $700.
No thanks! Looks like the financial solution will be a new Samsung monitor.

First of all, happy new year to everyone!
Macworld coming tomorrow, wow. Our W860's are everytime more a little older! and you say... How many lines in yours? I've been telling you over and over what to do! I started 2009 with ZERO lines on my screen. The warranty of my repair expires in TWO days! that means, for the last 88 days i have had no lines syndrome whatsoever! - and hope not to have it again.

But if anything ever happened in the near future, this is what i would -again- do: CALL APPLE!! i can say louder but i can't say it any clearer. CALL APPLE!!

I have read the blogs and know Apple will do nothing to correct their malfunction
Sorry anonymous, but you have been reading the wrong blogs. Take a few minutes to read my own, i made myself very clear; in fact i don't know why i don't read more frequent users cheering for their free fixes!

Looks like the financial solution will be a new Samsung monitor.

I don't know how expensive is a phone call where you live, but even 15 of them would be cheaper than a new Samsung monitor.

Please note that there are some cases where people have W860's where there's no technical support - something like that... Even if you have the weirdest case, nothing will help you more than a phone call.

Anyway, i hope to see you back with good news, leave comments, it's free and can be useful to others.

Lines Anonymous

Hello, my name is iMac and it's been almost four weeks since I don't show any lines!

1 infinite loop

I'm enjoying since thursday my lines-less iMac. And I'm making a post out of it? YES. I want to encourage iMac owners with this deffect to call. Call now! It's that easy.

Call and don't desist! The loop ends at some point. Don't you really want to enjoy your mac again? :)

No more!

I've got my iMac with its brand new screen sitting on my desk. No more forty-two lines, no more single dead pixel!

Repair is guaranteed for the next tree months. Touch wood nothing EVER happens to it!

What they've done? Just screen replacement. It took my apple store two weeks to have it fixed.

Any questions? I'd be glad to answer!

Still have your screen like trash? call apple. call apple. call apple!!! just don't give up, each operator is very different from the other. You might not get what you want on first call, but be sure apple IS fixing this problem!

Impatient!

The store called today to say my mac is ready to come back home with me! I can't wait to have it tomorrow on my desk under my suspicious eye... I'm SO begging the lines empire is over...


More tomorrow!

An interesting sequence of events

Boy that was strange! Ok, so I phoned Apple. And no, I'm not writing on my usual desk today. After a pointless chat with a lady from Support, I called again, said my magic number W860...U2N, explained the problem very shallow and heard over the phone 'I think I have read about the lines issue somewhere, can you hold on plese?

When 'Save it for a rainy day' was over, she was back to tell me my mac was in between serial numbers with factory defects. She put me with another operator, Jose (thank you Jose!) to whom I had to explain again about the lines (how many lines... colours... nothing too technical) and he said. We'll make an exception. I'm giving you this case number and you take it to repair.

In 15 minutes and 2 phone calls I had my solution! So when i took it to repair we had some nice laughs about the little numbered tags on the frame of the mac and they'll have it checked in some 15 days or so.

I really thought it would take many many phone calls and minutes of explanation to each operator! It felt really good the way it came.

So please, call apple, call call call. And come back to tell how you've done!

Rekindle

I used to be against the idea of having a second screen. Basically because it meant as if i was giving up. Forty-two lines later, it is really annoying to see through them, so i got for my birthday a 21'' acer screen.

So, how does a 21'' screen compare to fixing my iMac?

acer screen costed around 120€, it has two years of warranty and zero dead pixel policy.

iMac bought through apple store comes with a dead pixel. Apple's dead pixel deal is: screw you. Once the warranty is void (just one year) first line appears. Fix is 800€. Warranty for the fixed screen is 3 months. And the screen fits the frame, that's a 17'' screen.

Get it? Zero advantages on PAYING for a fix to a problem not caused by the user! Oh! And should i mention cases where fixed screens show lines again?

I thought by adding a second screen i was giving up. But seeing one next the other.... it's inspiring, rekindling!

Armed with patience.

32nd lin·e

I'm back again, but no big news for me.. Lines pop every two days.

(Looks like a user got to this page by searching "how to erase blue line on right side of screen". Isn't it cute/sad?)


Come, wall·e, clean this mess!

Any success, anyone?

'Hey! What happened to the blog?'

Sorry! On vacation!

Question of the day

Are you using the latest information?

'I sued Apple and I won'

As quoted from a comment on the previous post. iMac user dperetti informs via hardmac.com (Le Macbidouille in english) through these two links (link1) (link2):

[...] about a legal procedure launched by one of our readers [...] He had two iMacs, both affected by the famous problem of vertical lines that affected many readers [...] The judgement was given yesterday. Apple was condemned to refund this reader for two computers. [...]

Continue reading at Apple loses the legal process concerning the vertical lines - Hardmac.com

Second link provides links to pdf files conclusions reached by the judge and

judgement given (personal information removed).

I received this info last week but couldn't post it until today. I'd like to thank dperetti for what he offers to us, and user Varuni for keeping me updated too!

True

[...] this number of lines contest is not getting anybody close to the solution.

Any options?

Trainwreck

(...) right now my only wish is for the lines to come to follow the pattern.

15th line on May 3rd (1 day)
16th line on May 11th (8 days)
17th line on May 15th (4 days).

Farewell, average. The last lines have appeared quite faster these last days, making it everytime more difficult to spot the new ones. That's why i have decided to tag them.



I had sent a letter to Apple hoping for some sort of answer. Aren't they supposed to answer those? I mean, it's not an informal email or a phone call. they have in their hands a complaint! Sent it on the last week of February, that's two months and a half...



Hello?

Ok, update (not really)

Update is... there is no update. My lines count up to fifteen, and right now my only wish is for the lines to come to follow the pattern. Some do skip it. While the 14th was coming and going, fifteenth was confident enough to just pop up the next day.

By the 8th line the average was a line every 15 days.

9th line (27 days), 10th line (12 days), 11th line (3 days) 12th line (12 days), 13th (9 days), 14th line (18 days), 15th line (1 day)

Now it has come down to a line every 13 days if not counting the last line which is too deviated from the average.

What ever happens on a mac every 13 to 15 days to run useless an entire line of pixels?

Sorry about the lack of updates, but there's really... no update at all, it's all gone wrong. I feel the need to write this just for the sake of keeping the blog up to date. Even if i'm not making some weird video, problem is present and REAL.



Oh, and anyone want to make a comment about this? "Apple #1 in tech support, again".

Just sayin'

My, do they multiply fast!

Did you know...?

The Maids of Honour (Las Meninas) by Diego Velázquez is exactly TWELVE iMac lines wide?

Dolly Parton is 1,24 mts shorter than 12 iMac lines! Tallest man according to Guiness Record is 19 cm shorter than 12 lines!

572 signatures on Petition Online, one line each makes 131,56 mts! That's 2,86 times the Statue of liberty!


Anyway



A user with serial CK61***U2R who contacted me has been blessed with his first line. I'm mentioning it since I've only talked about W860***U2N cases like mine. However, note it's not the only range affected. In fact intel iMacs have inherited the issue from G5's, for whom there are plenty of topics on Apple Discussions Board, really too many.

Last but not least i found powerbook17lines. It reads

A growing number of Powerbook 17" owners is reporting problems with the display: several pixel lines covering the entire display starts to appear after a couple of months that the warranty period ends

I wish them luck too

Broken dreams

So, while I wait for Apple to answer my letter, the 9th line decided to appear.

Was it something like this I wished for?

Can you spot a pattern?

Celebrating my 8th line, the 8th video-protest.
So... what's new?

Ups and downs, petitions and posts

Everyday I find a new Apple's discussions board topic locked or erased on the imac lines issue.
To sum up, these are the not quite popular but still active topics available on ADB...

Another article on the iMac "lines" issue

vertical cyan line on my 17" iMac display

pink line after installing 10.4.11

I remember when this blog started there were 268 signatures on the online petition. This number has raised to 397 in some more than a month. Most of them answer yes to Problem appeared while out of warranty?.

Now, this is me speaking, but i'd rather be officially rejected by Apple than completely ignored.