[thechat] my iMac frightens me...

Bob Davis bobd at members.evolt.org
Mon Jun 18 15:39:58 CDT 2001


At 12:37 PM -0700 6/18/01, you wrote:


>My strawberry iMac... love it to death.  Had it for over 2 years 
>now. It's done well by  me.

Yeah, they become like old friends, don't they?
The way the space bar is a little more polished on one side than the 
other, the way the 'j' and 'f' feel under your index fingers...the 
key travel, the little sounds they make...it's *your* computer.


>It started subtle... at the highest resolution, the monitor would do 
>funny things... seem irregular.... subtle waviness...

Like degausing?  Slight moire patterns? Or is it a blip, where the 
whole thing kind of shrinks and gets better.

>Now something just started... while I work, regardless of the 
>resolution... the screen blips off for a sec... then back on... the 
>monitor... computer itself not affected...  I am afraid.  I am 
>afraid it will blip off, never to return.

I've seen it with my Apple 17" display too.  It seems to be worse 
when I've had the windows open and there's a lot of dust and pollen 
in the air. I think it's just just getting into the boards. It might 
cause a slight short for a sec, and then clears up.
I'm not sure though. It's been doing it off and on for about 2 years. 
Windows open could also mean heat related (no AC where I've been 
living - but we're more concerned with heat than cooling in NH).

>Anyone more plugged in than I recognize this behavior? I have never 
>experienced it with any computer prior to this.

Yeah - It freaked me out, but nothing has come of it since. Every 
once in a while I try to blow the monitor out with compressed air. 
Your iMac uses convection for cooling - that's why it's so quiet: no 
fans - so it might be more susceptible to dust contamination (fans 
often times have filters on them - the iMac does not, AFAIK).

>Anyone know what is in store for me and how much it will cost?

If the monitor fries, you can still recover the data - but it might 
be cheaper to get a new machine. It's not easy to find people who can 
fix them. Did you get the extended warrantee?

Don't worry though. Mine has been doing it for a long time and hasn't 
failed yet. I fully expect that some day it will blip out and not 
blip back though.

You might be able to find a better answer in the Apple discussion forums:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/

There really is a lot of good stuff in there.

bob
-- 


bob davis
bobd at members.evolt.org
http://www.bobdavis.org/




More information about the thechat mailing list