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
    2017-10-27T11:06:53+00:00

    Do any of you guys have battery swelling?

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-10-27T10:14:09+00:00

    Windows Surface Pro4, exact same problem.

    Never had the issue till yester-night. But yester-night, I used the device rather heavy (lots of processes: photo processing, video processing & remote-login). The device slowed down considerably, to a point that the mouse started lagging. But didn't feel too hot. Anyway, I restarted it overnight. And circa morning, screen flicker.

    Graphics driver re-install, windows update, no avail

    Classic symptoms now:

    1/ As long as "something is happening" the screen is stable. But 3 seconds after idle, it start flickering

    2/ When I duplicate my screen on TV, that doesn't flicker, but the surface screen still flickers.

    Red every comment on this thread.

    I am going to request a replacement tomrw coz my warrantee doesn't work outside Hong Kong. I bought this in Hong Kong, that's where I live right now. But am relocating to Singapore in 1 month ... and cant take any chances.

    Shall keep you guys updated.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-10-27T04:48:18+00:00

    It's fairly new, these symptoms presented themselves over the last few weeks, and it's so intermittent it's hard to say if its getting worse in severity, but it is definitely worse in frequency. I have had the unit for over two years, I use it every day to take notes for school/work, write programs, occasionally stream TV on. It's very intermittent, I had a lot of trouble with it for the first hour and a half this morning and then the next 7 it ran without a hitch.

    I do notice that there is often a line across the top of the display that does not respect the screen brightness setting ( very bright when the rest of the screen is dimmed or vice versa) and once in a while the screen brightness will change on its own, but still say that it is whatever it was last set to. These problems are also intermittent, I have boot ups where the entire screen is behaving uniformly, then goes to sleep and comes back with the band across the top, or vice versa goes to sleep and comes back just fine, and these problems about 4 months old or so.

    Possibly related now that I think about it, the Surface Pen input into Onenote/Drawboard has been getting consistently worse for a few months. It "freezes" then draws long lines when caught up, or fails to acknowledge the pen is touching the Surface at all on the writing side (Yes, I installed a new battery and resync'd, no it doesn't fix it every time) but it will acknowledge the Eraser end as working.

    The other oddity is some of the streaming when done through Edge on Surface desyncs the Audio and Video signals frequently (Worst offender is the new Stargate site). I figured it was the website (I don't use the Surface to stream often) but now that I think about it those sites have never given me any issues when on Edge on my desktop.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-10-27T04:32:23+00:00

    It has got worse since I followed the recommended steps to resolve.  i.e. Uninstall and re-install the display drivers and provide all latest Windows Updates.

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