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
    2017-08-05T00:01:33+00:00

    I don't know but I've read someone mentioning that he asked for a refund.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T23:59:43+00:00

    Hi All,

    Ok so after using my SP4 for over a year, mine started ghosting and flickering.  It was working flawlessly before that.

    I am certain its hardware.  Once the SP4 gets warm/hot, is when it happens.  Watching a video and browsing the web will do it.  Let it cool down and its good ... for a while.

    BUT.

    I did a recovery ... basically brought my SP4 back to vanilla windows 10 and the problem hasn't come back for me so far.  4 days now ... and before it would happen every day.

    Some things I've noticed.

    If its flickering with the top bar ghosting and you do a restart.  It will show the same symptoms right away.  My guess is its still hot/warm.

    If you let it cool down and reboot it seems fine for a while.

    It only ghosted/flickered when my SP4 was attached to my 30" Dell WFP3007 (before the recovery).  Problem never happened at work with surface dock and 20" dell monitor.  I also have the surface dock at home.

    I have not put all my software back on yet.  I wanted to see how my SP4 ran with just FF and Bash for windows turned on ... for a while.

    I will be putting stuff on this weekend (eclipse, MySQL, tomee, unity, android sdk etc).

    Cheers.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T23:08:22+00:00

    Can we ask for money back?

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T21:39:42+00:00

    My SP4 is still under warranty but I don't know what I am going to do with it just yet. From everything I've read online, I am confused about whether the screen flickering is caused by a hardware or a software malfunction.

    There is no doubt that the screen shaking is triggered when the device gets warm. There is a report of a test that used the cloned hard drive content from a defective surface into a new brand device to solve the problem. This indicates a hardware problem.

    I have been using mine intensively every single day, since day 1, in the same way and I haven't witnessed any problem until the Creators update. Since then, I have had the display flickering mainly when I am in a skype video call for some time or watching a movie. I am not the only one reporting the appearance of the flickering issue after the Creators update (I believe there is a thread mentioning this). So it's hard to be convinced that a flickering issue that appears just after a software update is due to a hardware problem and this coincidence happened to more than one user.

    If it is a hardware issue, I have no guarantee that a replacement won't get affected by the same problem. I'd rather prefer to ask for a refund and use the money to buy the new surface pro 2017, which has an improved heat management (from what I've read).

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