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
    2017-07-26T14:51:11+00:00

    I got same problem. Being a data analyst, i need to play with bunch of data but device.. screen start to flicker even i use it's friendly browser i.e. Edge. Sad to tell you but it's fact that i haven't got chance to use it continuously for even 15 minutes since three months. I'm realizing that it was my worst choice of purchasing this device. i'm wondering why Surface Team is not taking it seriously. If you have any fix then do let me know here. Thanks !

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-07-24T18:52:47+00:00

    I'm experiencing the same problem. Just gonna describe my experience with it again for what it's worth (nothing new).

    Started about 3 months ago with only the occasional flicker which got worse but I could still stop it with screen activity. So the seconds display in the task bar worked perfectly for some time.

    About 2 weeks ago it would also start to flicker while the screen is active. However it's never there in the beginning when I turn on the device but only occurs after some hours of usage until it's continuous. There is also a small area at the top that is not affected by the flickering.

    Has there been any official statement regarding this? If not I'm really disappointed since this seems to be a problem that has now been apparent for quite some time since the introduction of the product. I'm reliant on my Surface (notes, lecture slides,...) and can't afford to wait for a replacement right now which is not the flickers or Microsoft's fault but it would help if I knew Microsoft is actually doing something regarding this problem s.t. I can keep/replace it in the future. I've actually been really content with it. But if the service continues like this I'll have to reconsider buying other Microsoft hardware again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-07-23T09:12:04+00:00

    it seems that microsoft has still no solution

    i installed the actual firmware update (07/2017) and all drivers and microsoft update. but always flickering and overlapping ghost images. always in battery mode.

    i think it doesn't depend of any OS. Because the display flickers and there are ghost images even in UEFI/BIOS or Ubuntu or Win10.

    sometimes the screen is departed. the upper part is displayed in high resolution and the lower part is in low resolution as the picture shows. it changes after a few minutes and displys overlapping ghost image.

    perhaps is because of the intel skylake cpu + gpu hd 520???

    problem of the hardware or firmware?

    Surface Pro 4, i5-6300U, 4GB, SSD128GB

    perhaps i try to get a replacement. it can't get worse.

    anybody another idea?

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