Surface Book 2: External Monitor Flickering

I have the same problem.

I bought my Surface Book 2 in April 2018. And connected it to my existing Samsung UE590 UHD 4K monitor with no problem. I was using a Microsoft HDMI-to-USB-C adapter.

But a few days ago, I had the Surface Book 2 doing a 3D render, disconnected from the Samsung. And I connected my Surface Pro 3 to the Samsung to work on other things. When the render was done, I reconnected the Surface Book 2. And the flickering began. I've switched both Surface devices on the Samsung before with no problem. But the fact that the problem started after a switch is very odd. 

BTW, the Surface Pro 3 still connects to the external monitor. And works as expected.

I've connected the Surface Book 2 to my Sony TV. The flickering happens there too. So, the Surface is clearly the problem.

I have the latest updates, including drivers. And have exhausted the different troubleshooting methods suggested by Microsoft. Nothing fixes the problem.

I'd really appreciate any help.

Thank You.

Hello Danilo, 

Yes, turned out to be a bad base unit (keyboard) graphics card. I was a day away from expiration of warranty (lucky) otherwise the swap would have cost me $600.  They said it was a rare occurrence.  First they'd seen in our local store even though they'd heard of it happening in other parts of the U.S.  They swapped-out the units, moved over all my data, and I haven't had a problem since. 

Steve

Scpr,

Any news after your additional visit to the MS store?

Thank you.

This same flickering problem started almost immediately with my Surface Book 2 - 13.5 (purchased mid-2017) connected through the Surface Dock via Cable Matters active HDMI to Mini DisplayPort adapter coupled with Cable Matters HDMI cable to an HP Pavilion Q32 monitor. (I've tried multiple cables, adapters, and approved monitors).  The flickering occurs with the laptop screen up or down and the flickering occurs on both the laptop monitor and external monitor.  Typically while the laptop monitor is flickering the external monitor just 'cuts-out' completely. 

Initially I thought it was only a Surface Dock problem so I exchanged the Dock twice.  Took my Surface Book 2 and Dock into the Microsoft Store to have it diagnosed (that's when they gave me one of the two new Docks.)  Also tried USB-C connected directly to the monitor (problem got worse, flickering became more pronounced and rapid on both laptop and monitor), I've used many types of adapter connectors, cables, downloaded driver updates, Windows Updates, and confirmed monitors were 'approved'.  I've tried dozens of suggestions from the legit blogs.  Still the flicker persists when connected to an external monitor.  My laptop monitor only stops flickering when disconnected from an external monitor. 

It wasn't until I started working with a friend who's a Microsoft engineer that we started (getting close to) isolating the problem.  He doesn't have the same problem with his Surface Book (1).  He believes that since there are two separate graphics cards and drivers in this system (one for the tablet and one for the base) he thinks there's got to be a conflict with some of the '2' units when connected to external monitors.  He's unsure of what's different 'hardware-wise' between the '1' and '2'.  He recommended I schedule another visit to my Microsoft Store.  I'm going tomorrow morning.   

While typing this response, I've had my Surface Book 2 connected to the Surface Dock (external monitor disconnected) and ran the Base Mark Web 3.0 benchmark test, no problem with the laptop monitor flickering.  So I don't think the problem is with the Dock as much as it's with the data exchance between the monitor and the laptop's dual graphics cards.

Not sure if this will be helpful, but I was able to fix this problem by correcting the refresh rate of my secondary monitor. It seems that Window 10 selected the wrong refresh rate. Once on the supported refresh rate of my monitor, the flicker went away.

Hope this works for others.