Surface Pro brightness bug

Anonymous
2013-02-19T02:05:17+00:00

The surface pro randomly brightens and dims even when auto brightness and dimming is completely shut off.  I contactedMicrosoft chat support and they said they are aware of the issue but its taking longer than expected.  I just wanted to post here to create more visibility and awareness of this annoying bug.  I hope it gets fixed soon.   Its most noticeable when an app launches or while beginning to watch a video.  From what I've heard it happens with RT too.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

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Anonymous
2013-03-15T17:19:47+00:00

Great news folks! I was able to fix this issue!!!!! :-D

So the issue appears to be the Intel HD 4000 implementing 2 forms of battery saving contrast adapting. But we have no ability to change these settings by default.

So first of all make sure your dynamic brightness is turned off in your PC Settings and/or battery plan. Then...

Go Intel's site and download and then install the latest driver for the Intel HD Graphics 4000.

I believe this is the correct link -

EDIT: Oops my link was for the 32 bit driver. This is the one you need -

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail\_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22375&lang=eng&wapkw=intel%C2%AE+hd+graphics+driver+for+windows+7\*+and+windows+8\*+%28exe%29

This should give you access to the Intel Graphics and Media Control panel when you right click and select Graphics Properties from the desktop.

Select ADVANCED MODE

GOTO > MEDIA > IMAGE ENHANCEMENT and disable "Adaptive Contrast Enhancement"

Then GOTO > POWER > Change POWER SOURCE to "On Battery" and make sure "Display Power Saving Technology" is disabled (that is unchecked).

Click APPLY and viola no more dynamic contrast annoyances!

YAY!

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Anonymous
2013-03-09T20:02:42+00:00

Greetings Gary,

Thank you for letting us know. Can you by chance get a video of it happening as this is something we are looking into.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-01-19T21:40:17+00:00

    So there was a firmware update that improves the flickering. However, it still is not completely gone.

    I uploaded a video where you have these effects:

    http://www.file-upload.net/download-10173823/helligkeit_test.avi.html

    If you look at the background (especially the grey wall behind him, or the wooden-straw right of her) you'll notice that this is changing brightness all the time.

    There are two major changes around 0:14 (wall getting brighter) and 0:29 (bambus gets darker) with the new firmware. If you still have the old one you might see this more often.

    You experience this if you run the video in full screen. If you don't run it in full screen, the brightness will be fine.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-01-06T15:19:20+00:00

    What i did before was uninstall the current driver, then download the latest version from intel that comes w/ the control panel.   Then via the power setting on the control panel turn off display power saving tech.

    hope this helps.

    I'm not sure if this helps for me. I tried to re-install the Intel driver I installed before, but now it says that "this driver is not veryfied". But I did verify the driver (with dseo13b) and also still have the Test-Mode enabled.

    Since I don't have the Type Cover, I cannot disable the driver verification in this BIOS-like-Menu, since you can't even use USB-keyboard or mouse there. So I'll borrow that Type Cover from a friend the next days and will try to disable this in that menu and re-install the Intel driver. Do you think that might work, or will I have to uninstall some updates?

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-01-06T11:50:33+00:00

    Yup its super annoying , i'm surprised intel and microsoft haven't fixed the whql stand alone driver yet.  That said, at least you don't have an RT version, its unfixable on those models.

    What i did before was uninstall the current driver, then download the latest version from intel that comes w/ the control panel.   Then via the power setting on the control panel turn off display power saving tech.

    hope this helps.

    This is really annoying... I also installed the latest Intel Drivers in August (Driver Version: 15.33.22.64.3621, Package:  Intel(R) Graphics Driver: 10.18.10.362). I had to use the Windows Test Mode and to sign the sys-file with DSEO, Windows 8.1 was already on the device.

    However, some graphic update seemed to have deleted the intel driver and has brought back some MS-Driver. Now the brightness flicker is back also. Really annoying if you want to watch movies.

    But DSEO (for signing the driver) does not work anymore, so I have to find some other way to install the Intel driver. Any ideas?

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