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

2017-09-26T08:10:45+00:00

To disable Panel Self Refresh, please refer to this post.

It is important to follow the steps strictly in order to enable the Intel Display Driver GUI (at the taskbar). The Intel Display Driver GUI will allow you to disable the Panel Self Refresh.
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Anonymous

2017-09-26T08:02:41+00:00

How to disable Panel Self Refresh can you provide any instructions?
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Anonymous

2017-09-26T07:52:36+00:00

I cant have said it any better.... I use my device for art... but now it's really frustrating cos I can only work for minutes at a time while having to turn it off at interval for my surface pro 4 to cool off.... the most reasonable and responsible thing Microsoft should have done is to issue a recall to defective devices and replace with the surface pro... it's sad how Microsoft keeps treating it's fans and users as garbage.
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Anonymous

2017-09-26T07:43:45+00:00

It's definitely heat related. Some combo of hardware with display software or drivers that's incompatible just makes it all go beserk.

Mine has had a problem since day one (over 1 year and a half) but as I don't live anywhere near a Microsoft Store, I'm stuck with this piece of junk.

I've written on every thread possible but MS doesn't seem to care (has a mod post a 'we're looking into it, have you tried troubleshooting?' bs post every now and then just to keep appearances but that's about it)

I've called and chatted with so many MS useless techs

I've had a MS guy remotely try to fix it

Done all the trouble shooting known to man a million times

Un-installed windows and re-installed, same with updates

Reset PC about 15 times

Tried all fixes possible posted in every thread and nada

I used to be able to stop it if I moved cursor or opened the task bar but after one of the updates, the problem became worse, meaning that nothing stops the shaking anymore other than letting it cool down and then I have like 30 minutes before the flickering hell starts again.

Only time it stopped for a few months was when I reset-pc and stopped ALL updates by setting it as metered connection and that kept me flicker free, but then I used it somewhere else on some other wifi and forgot and it updated and flickering came back and nothing i do helps.

I have disabled all the functions that I can of the Windows Defender (I noticed that's one of the things that made it overheat like crazy but you cant disable it completely sadly) and that gives me a bit more time before the flicker starts after I turn it on, but it only lasts for so long.

Honestly, I've resigned myself to never buying MS again, that it was 2k$ thrown to trash, and all we can do is warn EVERYBODY everywhere to never buy from them again. I'm slowly saving to buy another laptop (this is the only one I have of anything) and for now I'm stuck with this thing which I use for work as I am a freelancer (and soon to have eye problems from this shaky piece of cr*p)...and can't do anything to fix it.

Microsoft is a disgrace.
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