gdgt

This is just to report that the offer of free repairs for this problem was closed out in May 2011. There is now no recourse but to take your computer in to a dealer or repair service.

I'm going to have to give this a shot then. I called Apple on mine a couple years ago and they wouldn't do anything for me. I've since stopped using my machine because I had about 20 lines on the screen.

Glad I found this discussion, it finally convinced me to head to the Apple Store where they promptly offered to fix it for free. Will be getting it back in less than a week. Thanks again.

grr, flash getting costy now :(

A purple vertical line also appeared on my display. I have a late 2006 17" iMac, and my AppleCare warranty expired 3 months ago. I called AppleCare and the first rep said he couldn't help. So I told him that I read on gdgt that other people were having similar issues and their units were repaired, even OOW. I asked to speak to someone else, and he gladly transferred me. The other rep said he looked up an internal article and found out that it was indeed an issue and that Apple was repairing these units free of charge, even if they're OOW. I got a case number and a phone number, with an extension, to reach the rep personally if there were any issues.

So... CALL APPLECARE! Thx gdgt. ..and thanks to you too, Apple.

So it seems like someone tried to sue Apple over these issues saying Apple recklessly ignored the issue:
www.appleinsider.com­/articles­/09­/12­/22­/judge­_dismi...

That might explain why Apple aggressively fixes the problem when customers report it even when Apple Care has expired.

I use to repair lcds for a living for 5 years, I thought I might chime in on this.

It's more than likely an LCD problem. It's a common defect in LCD technology. Each row of vertical and horizontal pixels has it's own connector within the LCD screen. That particular connector has become loose. Usually the problem doesn't show up down the road but when you first get it and turn it on. I saw sometimes when the LCD gets warm (usually within 4 hours) from standard operation that the line would appear. Vertical lines are way more common than horizontal lines.

I don't know where specifically your vertical line is but if you press monitors adjust button and there should be a menu that pops up. If the line goes through that menu, then it's definitely an LCD issue. It will show up as well if you don't have the monitor cable attached to the monitor but I don't think you can disconnect that cable easily on a iMac.

Unfotunately, you won't be able to repair it yourself unless you have a clean room much like ones you see in CPU manufacturing. If you successful repair while outside a living room, there will be soo much dust inside the lcd that it'll be annoying.

OK, since more than one of you suggested calling Apple Care notwithstanding my OOW status, I gave it a shot. The guy politely explained that I was OOW, and should pay $29.95, but if I didn't want to, he has some limited "self-help" resources that he would walk me through. He asked me to power down and unplug the machine, then plug in and reboot to the install DVD. (I figured this was pointless Level-1 script-following, but I remained cheerful while chatting with the guy.)

While waiting for the disk to load, he told me he'd be gone 3 to 5 minutes to consult with another support person. After about 10 minutes had passed, he came back and said, "Say, we're going to go ahead and take care of this for you. Here's your case number: ##########." Then he looked up the (only?) Licensed Mac Repair shop in this town, gave me the number, and told me to call them to set up an appointment. "With your case number, they should be able to see the notes I'm making here, and you'll get taken care of."

Hey hey! Haven't called yet, but will let GDGT know how it turns out. In the meantime, "Call Apple Care - see what happens," is great advice.

rlbgator, if the video chip is the problem, it will likely transfer over to a monitor. If its the screen, it shouldn't. My bet is on the screen being the culprit. I'd borrow a friend's monitor and find out. Also, call Apple Care. They often cover screen defects even if you are out of warranty.

Yeah, the line first appeared while I was burning a DVD, and my kid was playing a Flash game - all of which I assume is pretty chip-intensive and heat-generating. It doesn't go away when it's cool, though... it's as if something permanently went a micron or two out-of-whack. That's why I was wondering whether the problem would ALSO appear on a second screen relying on the same hardware. I don't want to shell out $50 for the appropriate cable just to experiment.

I'll sit tight with the one-pink-line problem for now, and hope that the external monitor will be the solution, sometime in the future if/when it gets worse. As someone else says, I may check with the one shop in town that's an authorized repair place; see what they think.

[I'll try the fan-control trick just out of curiosity, too.]

iMac 24" (white) owner with the same problem. I'm sad to tell you that you're gonna have to live with that. From what I've learned, it seems that it's caused because something in it (processor or video card) is getting hot.

If it gets worst (it will), download SMCfanControl, www.macupdate.com­/info.php­/id­/23049 It seems that, because Apple didn't want the iMacs to be noisy, the fans run really slowly. In my case, the problem began with horizontal lines, like you, but then more problems appeared and ended with a frozen screen. I could start up again minutes later after letting it coold down. With SMCfanControl, I still ocassionaly get the lines, but it isn't freezing anymore.

Its likely the screen, but if you want to check before paying for a new monitor, try hooking up the output to a tv first.

Have you tried calling AppleCare just to see what they have to say? There is a chance that this might be covered. Do you have an Apple authorized service center close by? That might also work if Apple Care says they will cover the repair.

Only 1 of the vertical lines? Consider yourself lucky, if you do some Googling you'll find that this problem is not unique to just yourself. Over the past year my 1st gen intel iMac has proceeded to get an increasing amount of vertical colored lines running down the monitor, it makes for a very 'colorful' display.

Based on various discussions around Apple forums the problem is caused by an issue with the graphics card, the connectors to the monitor, or the monitor itself 'going bad'. Apple has never officially stated what the issue is that is causing the vertical lines to form, and never admitted to a defect in this iMac line that I'm aware of.

But in response to your question plugging in an external monitor does alleviate the issue. I'm using a 2nd external monitor and no lines display on that monitor, and as this 'line issue' has gotten worse I've made the external monitor the default desktop monitor for use.

I'd be curious to read experiences from other original iMac owning gdgt members with the vertical line issue.

It sounds like a dead/defective pixel issue. I don't think that this would travel to a second monitor if you got one. There's more info here: en.wikipedia.org­/wiki­/Defective­_pixel