Surface Pro 4, Screen Flickering, Shaking

Anonymous
2017-01-19T07:47:47+00:00

Hi All,

Update: Flickergate is now having a forum to bring all affected users at a single platform to plan for resolvement of issue. Please join at

 https://forum.flickergate.com

UPDATE: Check FlickerGate.com for videos of the problem and to submit your own. 

I purchased SP4 device a few months ago and it was working fine for a month. Then I noticed that when the CPU is at its max, the screen flickers a bit. Investigating further revealed that it flickers even if it is setting idle. It does not flicker if at least one of the following thing is done:

  1. A video being played in browser 
  2. If I keep the touch screen busy by either taping it or keeping a finger on it
  3. If I use the touchpad
  4. If keyboard is used for typing

This resulted in making the device completely unusable while reading articles or ebooks. I am a developer, most of the time I have to read the code and to do that, I have to constantly keep a finger on the touch pad or the screen. I contacted surface support in October and November and was told that the developers are working on the patch. Looking at the updates the developers are pushing since then, I don't think anyone is even aware of the problem there. 

My previous support ticket numbers are:

 ***deleted personally identifiable information***

***deleted personally identifiable information***

Just wondering if anyone else had the same problem (and the fix) and if not, what's the procedure for the refund? I will rather go for a mac then sacrificing $2000+ for a dancing screen.  

Kind Regards,

Abbas

***Personal information deleted by the moderator. Please see the Microsoft Community Frequently Asked Questions for more information on how you can protect your privacy.***

Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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Anonymous
2018-05-11T17:59:00+00:00

Hey Everyone,

Creating the best products and experiences for our customers is our top priority.

We have heard your feedback and after careful examination, have determined that a small percentage of Surface Pro 4 devices are exhibiting a screen flicker that cannot be addressed with a firmware or driver update.

To support customers affected by this issue, we will replace eligible Surface Pro 4 devices for up to three years from the date of purchase, free of charge. If you believe your device is experiencing this issue, please visit our Surface Pro 4 screen flicker article for more details.

Bryan [MSFT]

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-07-30T17:40:09+00:00

    Hi  My surface pro 4 is nearly 2 years old and has been working very well up until the last firmware update in July now it has the flicker shaking problem so I went through all the fixes to try to stop it nothing worked. When it gets hot it goes crazy so my last chance to fix it was that I had a backup image file on my external hard drive from the first day I bought it.  I did a restore and at first I thought i had fixed it but the flickering slowly came back I was also on mains supply and it was hot. Then I updated windows from the update settings and there was also a graphics driver update in that update and after I rebooted the flickering has stopped for now over 2 hours still no flickering. I will test it more in the days to come and send back a report on this site. It can't be a coincidence that my surface pro 4 should have a hardware problem just after a new firmware and update so I don't know if its software drivers or hardware only time will tell.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-07-30T12:05:05+00:00

    I just wanted to put it on record that I am also experiencing this issue with my Surface Pro 4 i7 version. I've communicated with surface support on twitter - similar responses. No response when I mentioned this seemed to be a common hardware issue...

    The sad thing is, I wouldn't recommend the surface brand to anyone anymore, as I can barely use this product now. Extremely disappointed, because I loved my SP4 before the graphics issue started...

    Keep fighting the good fight everyone...

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-07-30T04:35:00+00:00

    Hi guys,

    I can confirm that the problem is a hardware fault, NOT software.

    I've had this flickering issue for months, and I demanded that Microsoft swap my faulty SP4 for a brand new device, which they agreed to.

    So I cloned the hard drive of my faulty / flickering SP4 onto an external USB drive, and then re-cloned it onto the brand new Surface Pro 4 in the store, and it has been running flicker free for over two months.

    So, if it was a software / driver problem then the problem would still exist on my brand new device, which it doesn't.

    ONCE AGAIN, I CAN CONFIRM THAT IT'S 100% A HARDWARE FAULT!

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-07-30T04:00:36+00:00

    I totally agree with what you said. Since surface pro 4 is as powerful as other premium laptops, the device itself can handle multiple browsers at a time. Our problem here might correlate with heating circumstances, but some of the comments that I read in these threads claim that heating is not the source of it. So I assume that this comes with an exceedingly overused heavy program like binge-watching or playing games with huge graphics involved. @Winston1024NC you could try a program that at least makes the laptop's fan running for a while. This might trigger the problem.

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