Apple releases firmware update for 27-inch iMac displays

Along with the recent update to iTunes that Apple released, the company also issued the anticipated firmware update for their 27-inch iMacs which is an update for the display hardware itself, and is supposed to help address video problems that have plagued the new machines. These have included blank displays, yellow-tinted LCD colors, and display flickering, of which the latter is addressed by this update.

Initial reports on the update appear to be mixed. So far, people who have not had any flickering problems with their iMacs have not noticed any difference upon applying the update. However, a few members on the Apple discussion boards have commented that applying the update has made the problem worse. Despite these instances, for others the update has worked as expected.

In this knowledgebase document on the update, Apple suggests if you continue to experience display flickering issues after the firmware update has been applied, you should check to ensure you have applied the previously released "27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0," which updated the graphics cards on the new systems.

Since these updates and the problems they address have to do with firmware, you might try resetting the system's PRAM and SMC after you have applied the update. Doing this should reset firmware settings and configurations to default values, and clear any potential contributions to the problem by faulty settings. The recent update can be downloaded from the following Web page:

27-inch iMac Display Firmware Update 1.0

If you have not applied the previously released graphics firmware update, it can be found at the following site:

27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0

If you have one of the new iMacs and have applied these updates, we would like to hear about any problems or successes.

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