Surface Laptop 3 screen flickering issue - I had this with the Surface Pro 4 too

Anonymous

Hello everyone,

I just noticed a problem with my two-month old Surface Laptop 3 (i7/16/256): there is screen flickering in the lower left corner of the screen. The flicker disappears when I move the mouse or play a video. I immediately panicked since I had a similar issue with my previous Surface Pro 4 and it turns out it was a hardware issue. The biggest issue is that on the Surface Pro 4 it has gotten worse over time.

Returning at this time is out of question for me, I need it for work.

Anyone else has this issue ? I'm not expecting an easy fix but who knows.

PS: Below is a video with the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE4oI9wfAk

Thanks !

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Anonymous

Ok everyone, I have great news ! (edit: not so great)

I managed to fix the issue (edit: nope).

Just as I suspected, it is indeed a power management issue where the panel tries to optimize power consumption by utilizing a technology called "panel self-refresh" which basically allows the screen electronics to refresh its current image independent of the graphics card if nothing has changed on the screen. You must disable that.

Here are the steps:

Open Microsoft Store, then search for and install "Intel® Graphics Command Center".
Open the app, go the "System" vertical tab, then go the "Power" horizontal tab
Disable the "Panel Self-Refresh" option on both "On Battery" and "Plugged In" modes.

The problem should instantly disappear, even before you leave the app.

EDIT: Unfortunately, the problem will only lessen in frequency, but will not disappear completely. But I will leave this post here, maybe it helps in some cases.

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45 additional answers

Anonymous

2021-02-27T02:19:25+00:00

Finallly!!! I've been trying to solve this problem for over a year. It was so frustrating. It is result of Intel's power saver feature. For solution you just have to download Intel Graphics Command Center from Microsoft Store and disable Panel Self Refresh setting<Power<System. Hope it will help you all.

Hello everyone,

I just noticed a problem with my two-month old Surface Laptop 3 (i7/16/256): there is screen flickering in the lower left corner of the screen. The flicker disappears when I move the mouse or play a video. I immediately panicked since I had a similar issue with my previous Surface Pro 4 and it turns out it was a hardware issue. The biggest issue is that on the Surface Pro 4 it has gotten worse over time.

Returning at this time is out of question for me, I need it for work.

Anyone else has this issue ? I'm not expecting an easy fix but who knows.

PS: Below is a video with the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE4oI9wfAk

Thanks !

Yes! it's been bugging the s**t out of me since I got this back in oct of 2019.. panel self refresh fixed it for me.. in fact, the flickering literally toggles on and off with PSR. I turned a few other options off too, to see if it's what's causing me some other graphics grief as well!
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Anonymous

2021-02-21T07:43:47+00:00

I have the same issue (flickering in the far bottom left) on my i7 Surface Laptop 3 purchased last year. Unfortunately the Intel Command Centre settings do not actually help at all.

Does anyone from Microsoft have an official fix for this issue?

Finallly!!! I've been trying to solve this problem for over a year. It was so frustrating. It is result of Intel's power saver feature. For solution you just have to download Intel Graphics Command Center from Microsoft Store and disable Panel Self Refresh setting<Power<System. Hope it will help you all.

Hello everyone,

I just noticed a problem with my two-month old Surface Laptop 3 (i7/16/256): there is screen flickering in the lower left corner of the screen. The flicker disappears when I move the mouse or play a video. I immediately panicked since I had a similar issue with my previous Surface Pro 4 and it turns out it was a hardware issue. The biggest issue is that on the Surface Pro 4 it has gotten worse over time.

Returning at this time is out of question for me, I need it for work.

Anyone else has this issue ? I'm not expecting an easy fix but who knows.

PS: Below is a video with the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE4oI9wfAk

Thanks !
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Anonymous

2021-01-15T21:04:50+00:00

Finallly!!! I've been trying to solve this problem for over a year. It was so frustrating. It is result of Intel's power saver feature. For solution you just have to download Intel Graphics Command Center from Microsoft Store and disable Panel Self Refresh setting<Power<System. Hope it will help you all.

Hello everyone,

I just noticed a problem with my two-month old Surface Laptop 3 (i7/16/256): there is screen flickering in the lower left corner of the screen. The flicker disappears when I move the mouse or play a video. I immediately panicked since I had a similar issue with my previous Surface Pro 4 and it turns out it was a hardware issue. The biggest issue is that on the Surface Pro 4 it has gotten worse over time.

Returning at this time is out of question for me, I need it for work.

Anyone else has this issue ? I'm not expecting an easy fix but who knows.

PS: Below is a video with the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE4oI9wfAk

Thanks !
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Anonymous

2021-01-05T07:27:01+00:00

Temporary solution that worked for me to reduce flickering down to very small number of times: Settings -> display -> change color mode from Enhanced to sRGB.

I bought my Surface Laptop 3 on dec 30th 2020. It is i7 version. I installed all the updates from microsoft, intel, etc. and it made no difference. My flickering bug occurs especially when videos (teams, youtube, games) were on.

After 5 hours of trying to debug, the only thing that worked was turning off enhanced mode, which i cant tell the the use of. So now i can log into multiple accounts with no issues.

Microsoft Support is just really bad. First made me waste hours installing all updates. Then factory reset (so lost all my applications). and one helpful agent offered to send a replacement. I had to insist on a new machine given it is only 1 week old.
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