Surface Pro 4 - External screen keeps turning on/off (black flickering)

Anonymous

Hi there,

I just made a video of my recent problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phi\_Yru77aM

You can see that when I'm using the built-in screen of my SP4 (i7, 16GB, 512GB) and only one 4K external screen (both at 60hz), this monitor keeps turning black on a random basis. All my drivers and firmware are up to date (Surface Dock and Surface). I even tried the last Intel Iris 540, same results. I tried another MDP to DP cable, same results. I tried another screen, same results. I tried different refresh rates, same results.

I bought this screen a month ago and I was working fine at the beginning. I strongly suspect an update or the fact that I tried to connect two 4K monitors at 60hz (and I would have damaged something in the process?).

If I deactivate the built-in screen, the problem goes away (something that I just found tonight).

Should I send the device in warranty or just wait for a software fix? The 4K experience is not there yet, I'm a bit disappointed I have to say.

Cheers,

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171 answers

Anonymous

2018-06-01T02:21:08+00:00

It is strange that some of you got a newer driver with 1803. Do you also have an Intel Iris Graphics 540?

I don't have the 540 I have Iris Plus Graphics 640 (the top end i7 model). That could be the difference.

I bought the top of the line i7 Surface Pro 4 when it was released, special ordered with everything maxed out. I have a 540. WTF? When did they start adding 640s to the SP4? And why is this happening in the first place? It was broken, fixed, then broken again...

If you bought an SP4 when launched, you have 6th Gen i7 skylake with the 540 GPU. In 2017, they launched a new SP4 with the 7th gen kaby lake and the 640 GPU. No WFT, this was published, but it was not significant enough to warrant SP5. A bit like the S version of an iPhone :-)

I have the 2017 with the gen 7 i7.

Check out the table Surface Pro Line on this wiki Surface on Wikipedia
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Anonymous

2018-06-01T00:09:57+00:00

It is strange that some of you got a newer driver with 1803. Do you also have an Intel Iris Graphics 540?

I don't have the 540 I have Iris Plus Graphics 640 (the top end i7 model). That could be the difference.

I bought the top of the line i7 Surface Pro 4 when it was released, special ordered with everything maxed out. I have a 540. WTF? When did they start adding 640s to the SP4? And why is this happening in the first place? It was broken, fixed, then broken again...
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Anonymous

2018-05-31T23:06:58+00:00

It is strange that some of you got a newer driver with 1803. Do you also have an Intel Iris Graphics 540?

I don't have the 540 I have Iris Plus Graphics 640 (the top end i7 model). That could be the difference.
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Anonymous

2018-05-31T14:28:52+00:00

@enady - that really sucks. Mine is total fixed. Here is a dump from my system info

[System Summary]

Item Value

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise

Version 10.0.17134 Build 17134

Other OS Description Not Available

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name xxxxxxxxxxx

System Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Model Surface Pro

System Type x64-based PC

System SKU Surface_Pro_1796

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7660U CPU @ 2.50GHz, 2496 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date Microsoft Corporation 233.2110.770, 1/30/2018

SMBIOS Version 3.0

Embedded Controller Version 255.255

BIOS Mode UEFI

BaseBoard Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

BaseBoard Model Not Available

BaseBoard Name Base Board

Platform Role Slate

Secure Boot State On

PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View

Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS

System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2

Locale United States

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.17134.1"

User Name xxxxxxxxxxx

Time Zone Central Daylight Time

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB

Total Physical Memory 15.9 GB

Available Physical Memory 9.64 GB

Total Virtual Memory 18.3 GB

Available Virtual Memory 12.0 GB

Page File Space 2.38 GB

Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Kernel DMA Protection Off

Virtualization-based security Not enabled

Device Encryption Support Elevation Required to View

Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes

Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes

Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes

Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes
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Anonymous

2018-05-31T14:11:04+00:00

Sadly a manual update to 22.20.16.4749 doesn't fix my off/on issue.

Like reported by some others, the Windows April 1803 update didn't bring any new driver to me, I was left with 21.20.16.4647. A click on "Update Driver" told me that I was running the latest update.

I have now downloaded and installed 22.20.16.4749 via the provided link in this tread (thank you very much, by the way). I didn't get any error messages or warnings (like others). I then ran the SurfaceDiagnosticToolkit to ensure that the apps were reset. Still no warnings or errors. I attached my external 4K monitor full of hope. The empty desktop stayed still for half an hour. I then dared to open OneNote; and the 4K monitor immediately started blinking heavily again. For me the blinking is still a factor 1000 worse now than before the Windows 1803 update. (same for both driver versions, I have rebooted and double checked that the new driver hasn't been overwritten)

I am now deeply depressed.

If I recover and find strength again I might test the 20.19.15.4326 and 23.20.16.4973 versions also.

It is strange that some of you got a newer driver with 1803. Do you also have an Intel Iris Graphics 540?
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