Surface Pro 4, Screen Flickering, Shaking

Anonymous

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:

A video being played in browser
If I keep the touch screen busy by either taping it or keeping a finger on it
If I use the touchpad
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***

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.***

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

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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2,779 additional answers

Anonymous

2017-03-18T22:10:56+00:00

That's the best solution, I have to launch a project by end of March and I can't use the laptop for a single tasks. There is now a shadow screen on top of the main display which flickers up and down all day
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Anonymous

2017-03-19T03:10:50+00:00

My project end of March too and the difficulty is I must backup kinds of data, it's terrible when I not in USA
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Anonymous

2017-03-20T17:56:25+00:00

Got the same problem since a couple of days now. The issue also appears in the UEFI menu and during start-up. Updating the graphics driver etc. didn't work and the issue persists. I have observed that the flickering usually first starts after some time of use. The only work around so far was to use the task manager or - as of lately - the taskbar clock using seconds.
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Anonymous

2017-03-20T19:40:56+00:00

I also noticed that as the flickering stops when moving mouse, it always starts again exactly 3 seconds after stopping to move the mouse. Maybe that would help developers identify the problem, as it seem to be on a timer. I'm guessing there is some power saving or feature kicking in 3000miliseconds after screen is idle causing the issue. Something in the drivers/firmware shutting off on timer causing instability, and flickering.
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