# Screen Burn In on 24" iMac



## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

My 24" iMac (less then a year old) has a very faint screen burn in of the YouTube logo in the upper right of the screen. It appears on boot up and on any solid coloured screen background. It also appears when I boot into WindowsXP. So my questions are:

1) Has anybody else got this problem?
2) Is there anything that I can do to fix it at home? (I've rebooted a few times but it has made no difference.)
3) Will Apple cover the cost of fixing this?

Any help would be appreciated.


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

There is nothing to "burn" in an LCD, but you should be able to reverse the problem using this technique from Apple.

I have my 24 inch brightness set to minimum at all times, and find that that is even too bright sometimes. You also want to set your display to shut off after a while, rather than constantly running a screensaver. Screensavers save nothing on LCD screens. Perhaps they even do the opposite, since they are using up the finite life of each pixel.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

Since your iMac is less than a year old, if there is a problem (and it sounds like there is) then Apple will fix it for you. They'll probably put in a new panel for you. Take it to your local AASP or an Apple Store (Genius Bar).


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## Grendel (Sep 19, 2007)

It's strange that the word 'persistence' brings to mind everything that the word 'burn' did.
You have to love marketing...

Gren.




Carl said:


> There is nothing to "burn" in an LCD, but you should be able to reverse the problem using this technique from Apple.
> 
> I have my 24 inch brightness set to minimum at all times, and find that that is even too bright sometimes. You also want to set your display to shut off after a while, rather than constantly running a screensaver. Screensavers save nothing on LCD screens. Perhaps they even do the opposite, since they are using up the finite life of each pixel.


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## Mr. Fartleberry (Dec 17, 2005)

Carl said:


> I have my 24 inch brightness set to minimum at all times, and find that that is even too bright sometimes.


Yeah, I keep mine at low as well, being confined to a dungeon and all that. I think possibly the reason you can crank it so bright is for retail or exhibit display applications. ie commercial applications.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

bgw said:


> My 24" iMac (less then a year old) has a very faint screen burn in of the YouTube logo in the upper right of the screen. It appears on boot up and on any solid coloured screen background. It also appears when I boot into WindowsXP. So my questions are:
> 
> 1) Has anybody else got this problem?


Yes. It happens from time to time if you leave the same image on your Mac screen (say 24-48 hours).



> 2) Is there anything that I can do to fix it at home? (I've rebooted a few times but it has made no difference.)


Yes. Give it time. After a few days it will fade. There are "screen savers" out there that will flash alternating patterns on your screen, essentially scrubbing away the "burn in" (burn in is really not accurate, as nothing is burned in).



> 3) Will Apple cover the cost of fixing this?


No. Nothing to fix. Give it a few days. Make sure your screen saver is on.


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## Jim (Jan 31, 2003)

*24 in imac screen issues*

1) Has anybody else got this problem?
2) Is there anything that I can do to fix it at home? (I've rebooted a few times but it has made no difference.)

24 inch imac "screen burn" is a big discussion on the apple support pages. Go to: Apple - Support - Discussions - Your Intel-based iMac Display


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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

Thanks for all the responses. Very useful information.

Eventually I tried JScreenFix and it seems to have done the trick. When using it I turned the brightness and contrast down on the monitor, then I turned off the screen saver, turned off machine sleep and monitor turn off and hid the dock. I let it run, at full screen, over night. Everything seems to be fine now.

From now on, I'm going to keep the brightness of the screen down and get the screen saver to turn on in 10 minutes or less and turn the monitor off in 20 minutes through the Energy Saver System Preference.

If your monitor seems to be too bright for your liking check out Splasm Software's _Brightness Control_, a free utility to turn the brightness down even more then Apple's controls allow. I'm not using the software, nor have I tested it, but If I have further problems I'll give it a try out.

Thanks, again, for the assistance.


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## MercuryGlen (Sep 1, 2009)

*iMac 20" monitor burn in....*

If it has been less than 1 year - take it in. I never bought the extended warranties b/c I always liked Mac products until today....

For myself - Noticed "burn" lines on edges of my monitor and horizontal lines across the screen. (dark lines & "smudges") Took the Mac into Apple to see what they could do and
person there suggested I get a new computer vs getting it fixed for $1000 USD parts & labor. The Mac is out of warranty (18 months old) and their response was mainly "SOL" and they had never seen this before.

Running quickly through google & blogs - I am seeing a different story. While I need to do more research to see if same thing, I find it ridiculous that Apple dismisses it so easily. Going to try to battle this one, but figure I will lose and end up buying another
eventually - TBD.


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

Last year I had it bad on my 3 week old 24 iMac. I left my computer on when I went away for a week long motorbike trip south of the border. When I came back 7 days later, I found my computer on with a message asking if I wanted to update, this had probably been on the entire week waiting for me to click ok or cancel. The "burn" was very noticeable, but went away in about a week if I remember correctly. I didn't do anything to the computer except turn it off when I was done using it for the day. Now a little over a year later you could never tell that this happened. I wouldn't be to worried about it, it should go away shortly.


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## MercuryGlen (Sep 1, 2009)

*will try...*

thanks Wonderings...
Will try to turn it off for a bit, but graphic designer that works at home, so I have to use in constantly


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## jamesB (Jan 28, 2007)

MercuryGlen said:


> If it has been less than 1 year - take it in. I never bought the extended warranties b/c I always liked Mac products until today....
> 
> For myself - Noticed "burn" lines on edges of my monitor and horizontal lines across the screen. (dark lines & "smudges") Took the Mac into Apple to see what they could do and
> person there suggested I get a new computer vs getting it fixed for $1000 USD parts & labor. The Mac is out of warranty (18 months old) and their response was mainly "SOL" and they had never seen this before.
> ...


It's definitely been more then a year now, seeing as how the post you are answering is 15 months old.


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

MercuryGlen said:


> thanks Wonderings...
> Will try to turn it off for a bit, but graphic designer that works at home, so I have to use in constantly


I just turned it off at night when I went to bed, I leave it on 24/7, still do, just not if I go away for a week, learned my lesson and am grateful there is nothing permanent burned on my screen.


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