Late 2009 iMac "cloudy" screen.

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,478
Location
West Yorks
I have a late 2009 27" iMac and recently the screen is looking different.

At first I thought it was dirt, but I've cleaned the screen and it's not coming off. I don't think it's backlight bleed as its randomly over one side of the screen, not one continuous blob in one corner like I have on my living room LCD tv.

Is it possible dirt has gotten inside the sheet of glass ?

Should I buy a suction lifter to remove it ( according to te Internet it's held in place by magnets)

Or would I better off going to the apple store ? But at over 2 years old with no AppleCare I don't think tey will be able to help ?
 
It's easy enough to get the glass off - two suckers in the top corners and pull, there are four metal tabs at the bottom of the glass that it will hinge on then you can lift out. Sat nav suckers or similar will be fine. The magnets aren't mega strong.

It is, however, a huge pain to de-dust both the LCD panel and the glass and put the glass back on quick enough before a bit of dust gets on there. We've got a special rollery thing for doing it, I find the best way is just to do it absolutely as fast you can. Usually takes me four or five goes before I'm happy with it.

If you decide to do it.. DO NOT smash that glass! It's not tempered and it'll break into absurdly dangerous 2ft long shards.

It's also a bit easy to chip the edges.

Worth ringing Apple to see if they'll clean it for you.
 
that entails packing it up and taking it to the apple store though.

My nearest one is in meadowhall, or maybe the manchester trafford centre.

Going to be a right PITA lugging a 27 " imac from the car all the way through meadowhall to the store. Decisions Decisions.

Its definitely not backlight bleed as it doesnt show up on black background. It shows up as "off white" patches on a white background.

On a black or coloured background they are all but invisible. Its only on a pure white screen (like say google, or at startup) that you notice it.
 
It's fairly likely just condensation/dust/muck on the inside of the screen. It's not a totally sealed unit, stuff does occasionally get into them.

All I will say is that putting the screen back on is a real pain and I don't like doing it because of dust. Apple are likely to do it for you for nothing.
 
Mine did this. Took the glass off (easy) and the smoky-ness was on the LCD. Rang Apple, took it to Meadowhell (that was a pain) and they replaced the screen after checking. It wasn't user damage.

Six months after the warranty had expired.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom