Surface Pro 4, Screen Flickering, Shaking

I wanna join the "Club". I have an SF4 i5 4GB with the bottom half of the screen flickering issue. Unfortunately, I'm out of warranty and waiting for the solution.

I was reading most of the comments here from the beginning but now it's too many of them to read it all. Therefore I decided to ask some questions.

Have we got any proper solutions for the problem?

Any chance without warranty to swap it for a working one from the UK?

As of this moment, there is no known solution which resolves the issue completely and reliably. Some hacks exist that do alleviate the problem, albeit, temporarily. 

I am out of warranty too, and am eligible to get a refurbished device with replaced display panel for additional cost of $600, and I live in India.

I wanna join the "Club". I have an SF4 i5 4GB with the bottom half of the screen flickering issue. Unfortunately, I'm out of warranty and waiting for the solution.

I was reading most of the comments here from the beginning but now it's too many of them to read it all. Therefore I decided to ask some questions.

Have we got any proper solutions for the problem?

Any chance without warranty to swap it for a working one from the UK?

Your screen will eventually start flickering again, just a matter of time. There is no way a software update can fix a hardware issue. Microsoft needs to own up because people who have this issue appear shortly after their warranty expires are pretty much being scammed by microsoft.

Attention Everyone!

I have been a victim of this issue since January of 2017. In this forum, you can find many of my posts stating and complaining about the same. I implemented all the "apparent" fixes listed in here and other help forums such as : 

1. Seconds Clock in Taskbar
2. Pinning TaskManager to one side of screen with Performance view
3. Capping CPU performance at 99% for both Battery and Plugged-in modes
4. Revert to older Graphics drivers, and re-update back to latest
5. BIOS settings 
6. Raised Support ticket with MIcrosoft, who offered to replace with a refurbished device for a fee
7. Use a table fan to keep the laptop cool

All of these had varying rates of success. One symptom that I noticed before the flickering occurred, were horizontal lines that appear on the top most region of the display area. At first, only 1 line appears, and then progressively more lines appear till there are around 10 lines. As soon as this 10 line threshold is reached, the screen abruptly begins to flicker. However, immediately switching off the screen by pressing the power button, and waiting for 5 minutes reset these lines back to 4 or 5, and I could get another 30 mins of usage till the 10th line developed again. 

At this point, I seriously suspected this to be a driver issue. The display lines appear progressively and have little correlation with heat, but rather more correlation with time. I think its something to with the way the screen refreshes itself. The 10th line kinda throw this algorithm of refreshing, out of wack, so we see the flickers.

Now, for the most interesting information. When Microsoft offered to give me a refurbished device, I knew that they werent sure if that one would develop the same issue as well, so I held out for a little longer, trying to see if we can get some confirmation later. But as I waited, my issue miraculously disappeared. Since last two weeks, the lines havnt been forming near the top of the screen, and hence, there is no flicker issue. Its as if my device as completely fixed itself.

I did a couple of unscientific stress tests, such as running some simulation software, 3D modelling, extensive parallel tasks with Office applications etc, and it still doesnt cause flickering. I wont push my luck further by trying to force it to re-appear, but safe to say, some software update or simply the passage of time, as fixed the issue.

Lastly, I would like to add that Ive been reading a lot of negative testimonials for this device purely due to this issue. I concede that Microsoft dropped the ball on this one. But the device is AMAZING. I repeat, its the most productive laptop Ive ever owned. Since the rectification of my problem, I have had more time to pause and reflect about this device, and there is nothing but positive feelings for it. My OneNote application is filled with random thoughts, story ideas, design ideas, drawings and doodles. Its like a thought journal that I created without intending to. The portability alone is a killer feature, allowing me to haul high end simulation models at my work, around the office without any issues.

Overall, I think I ended up with greater appreciation for this complicated and advanced hardware. The issue is sad, but also a complex one. I understand why Microsoft has had trouble dealing with it, and its their fault for not acknowledging it or making support easier for the victims. But as a product, this is a stellar one. Kudis.

Helpful post and a nice summary.  let us know if the issue stays resolved.  The refresh suggestion is an intesting one, but what I can't figure out is why using a secondary monitor has resolved the issue for people if it's a driver problem or an output problem.  It would seem specific to the touch screen display somehow, like the display hardware is malfunctioning.  I think that what happens is at first, heat causes the problem temporarily and over time heat induced damage causes the problem permanently so that cooling doesn't help anymore.  That too doesn't quite explain why yours suddenly stopped, except perhaps that failing hardware tends to exhibit inconsistent problems until it completely fails.  I'm hopeful that it's a software issue, but I don't believe it is.