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

2017-12-12T11:11:02+00:00

Totally agree with this explanation, SP 4 has to be recalled due to this issue.

Unfortunately that would mean millions of dollars in damages, so I don’t have my hopes high that this’ll happen, unless we make a big stink.

You're right, apparently they are in deny mode, and they dare not issue an official statement regarding this problem, prove that in their eyes, only "M$" matter
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Anonymous

2017-12-12T12:15:12+00:00

I agree with this.

A while back I got a replacement device, and slowly it's starting to show a little bit screen flicker once in a while, and I can notice that this only happens after the device has done some hard work. (After the fans were working hard to keep it cool) So it definitely seems to be a progressive issue that get worse with time.

Since I sometimes do quite heavy 3D renderings for work and play quite demanding games I'm pretty sure this replacement device will eventually get worse as well.

It might even be that ALL Surface devices suffer this issue, but not showing for many people because they use their surface quite lightly ie. not playing demanding games for extended periods etc.

As someone else mentioned, replacing the screen fixes the flickering, so it seems like the heat does actually damage some component in the display, causing this flickering.

Does anyone know if this only happens on SP4 or other surface products as well? SP3, New Surface Pro? Fanless devices also have this issue?
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Anonymous

2017-12-12T12:33:46+00:00

here a link of SP 2017 owners complaining about screen flickering, although I not sure is it same with SP4

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpronew-surfdrivers/surface-pro-2017-screen-flickering/d5993f03-0a86-417c-b35d-d4e1e3e6d250

My is SP4 fanless M3 model, I used it merely as digital drawing pad, never play games or do heavy works. Flickering started after 1.5 year.
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Anonymous

2017-12-12T13:33:20+00:00

I have had this problem for some time now on first and my Second SP4 after Microsoft replaced the first for free.

I agree to begin with it was only after the SP had been in use for some time and got very hot the the shakes started, but recently it starts after only a few minutes.

I have tried all the fixes updates and support from Microsoft with out any success. I did however notice as others mentioned that if i keep tapping the screen the shaking stops.

Finally I found a workaround to this. I downloaded a small free app called "Move Mouse" (useful for other things as well) I have this set to auto start and make a mouse move every 20 Seconds or so. You might need to reduce the time spacing if your shaking is really bad. This so far seems to have removed the problem.

The one drawback is my Screen saver doesn't cut in , but at least my screen has remained shake free
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