Surface Pro 4, Screen Flickering, Shaking

Hi N Deslandes,

I can confirm for me that activity on the screen works ALMOST all of the time - the only occasions when this doesn't help is when using my Surface outside on a sunny day, where the heat is even worse. In these scenarios the flickering is so bad its impossible to make anything on the screen legible. We should never lose sight that this is purely a workaround until an official fix/replacement is provided though.

I do believe the issue is heat related, possibly down to a faulty batch of components that have worn down over time. The fact this happens outside of the OS, it's reliably repeatable by doing a CPU intensive task, and turning down the screen brightness (and therefore the heat) reduces the frequency of the shaking makes me lead to this conclusion.

For the person who asked whether anyone has spoken to Microsoft support for the £29 support call - I complained on Twitter to @Surface_UK and got a free support call raised - however it has been 2 months now and I still have no resolution - the international call centre only ever contacts me for doing more testing every week or so, and all the tests are basic functionality tests other affected users have already suggested and done in this thread. I'm expecting another call this afternoon, which I am sure will lead to further frustration. If anyone wants my call reference number I am happy to provide it.

The only new test they asked me to perform was to see if this issue happened in Windows RE. I managed to replicate the error my doing a CPU intensive task, then quickly going into Windows RE before the system cooled down. This is getting beyond a joke now.

I've talked to someone on the free phone number support and their only solution is to run the software repair tool thing and to reinstall Windows. After that, they tell you it's a hardware problem. If you use the free line and ask for that support, pay the money, and they're NOT able to fix it, they refund you your money and tell you the whole "it's a hardware problem"

I wish it was that easy, but it's not only about screen idling, that's one of behaviors you will eventually bump into another more annoying instance.

When the flickering is caused when the screen is idle, it can be mitigated having anything update the screen, that's great.

But there is another inverted instance that only happens when the display is active, it's almost the exact opposite of the idle flickering.

When this happens, when the display is idle, everything is fine, but as soon as something changes, the screen starts flickering, and it only stops when the screen stops updating, I normally minimize everything, in about two seconds, the flickering stops.. but then as soon as I even move the mouse... the flickering starts.

This is even worse because even watching videos makes everything flicker.

I am really disappointed, and as others have mentioned, I am reluctant to send my device to get another one, as I am out of the US, and I am afraid I would get another device that would have the same problem, eventually.

my sp4 is same like yours, idle = fine, once moving the mouse, immediately start flicker/jump up and down.

Wow, I was afraid of that answer; so it seems people mitigating the issue by having activity on the screen are just on borrowed time...

I am in as much shock as everyone that Microsoft hasn't provided a fix for, or even acknowledged the issue after a such a long time. Maybe we should all bombard @Surface and @Surface_UK on Twitter with complaints every day until they finally come back with a proper answer...