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
    2017-11-27T18:37:01+00:00

    Lets escalate this issue to the tech reviewers!

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-27T17:40:12+00:00

    I meant that the external display working doesn't give instant proof that it's hardware or software issue, problem still very open

    it could be hardware : Screen cable not well made, some screen components not aligned or something ...

    or software : driver or firmware can't manage the internal screen well, because it's new technology which has speaker and touch integrated into same software management, may have something weird going on there...

    If you ask me, Microsoft is just too lazy to put our issue into their main table and solve it, hence the long time since a firmware update appeared.

    Here is why I think it's a firmware issue:

    I bought the device used, with very dated software, running perfectly fine - 

    I updated software to the latest windows 10 and drivers (used a driver updater too) and issues started happening in just 1 week 

    touch screen started ghost clicking and sometimes doesn't recognize touch in part of the screen, then after an other update that was fixed but the blur and shaking started, It started very lightly but with more updates along the way, the whole screen became shaky, and you don't even have to be in windows, it's blurry in UEFI/ BIOS, and shakes from the beginning, you don't have to use it for hours or anything like that...

    ....

    ....

    ....Microsoft, are you there?

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-27T16:53:53+00:00

    External display working proves nothing 

    I disagree.  that the external display shows no flickering indicates the problem isn't with any of the display processing prior to the actual display rendering.  That indicates it's probably not an overheating / malfunctioning cpu, gpu, RAM or related bus components, but is probably related to hardware for the display itself. 

    It's an important factor in determining that the issue is not only a hardware issue since your drivers / software isn't dependent on your display device, but also that it relates to the display rather than the computing internals.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-11-27T16:43:57+00:00

    Super interesting thought given that the fan and heat would be correlated.  Like, maybe there's some magnetic shielding that's off or something. 

    However, mine doesn't appear to coincide with the fan that I can tell.  There have been several instances in which the fan ramps up and back down while early in my use after a long cooling period and the flickering doesn't get going.

    Everyone please share your experiences at https://www.facebook.com/surfacescreenshaking/

    Share it, like it, comment.

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