Surface Pro 4, Screen Flickering, Shaking

Thank you. Can you please sign the petition as well https://www.change.org/p/microsoft-microsoft-surface-pro-4-screen-flickering-or-blurry?recruiter=845560982&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=share_sms_responsive

Happy New Year Everyone!

I wanted to start off this year by fixing my Surface, so I did some investigation. I'm currently using my replacement device after having this issue on my first Surface. This Replacement started having issues as well a month or so ago, and to the point where not even adding seconds to clock would help. I had constant screen flicker and jumping, especially when gaming.

It's quite apparent that it's a heat related issue, and also that it's affecting people after some time. From previous experience I've also had heat issues with laptops before, so I got some hints from there. Here's a step to step guide on how to reduce, or completely remove the screen flickering. Note! It greately reduced my flicker but I can't guarantee it works for everyone.

I used this software called SpeedFan just to get some temperature readings. I noticed most flicker when the Temp1: was at 60C+ Screen would flicker constantly above that, even when something was moving on screen, or while I was gaming. Between 40C and 60C screen would flicker while something was not moving on screen. Below 40C I had no issues. 

Step 1: Vacuum all the vents!!!!

This is by far the most important! From previous experience with laptops they always caused problem when overheating. Over time, dust hair, and other gunk, might get in to the device and reduce the airflow, especially if you use your device in the bed, or in the sofa, or if you have furry pets. So Vacuum the vents on a regular basis. Do it very thoroughly, with a small nossle, or in other way restrict the airflow to a smaller point so that you get maximum suction from the vents. After Vacuuming I could see that my Idle temperatures was greatly reduced all over and gaming temperatures lower as well, and flickering was somewhat reduced. Keep vacuming on a regular basis! To to keep the airflow free from dust etc.

On an old laptop that was also having heat issues, doing above procedure prodcued a hamster sized dust ball from the fan area, and the Laptop was back to normal. :D

Step 2: Change the Power settings.

The more power your CPU uses, the more heat is generated. These settings are hidden on the Surface but you can add them manually for more control. Changing power setting to maximum Battery life might be enough, but if you want more control you can change the maximum and minimum processor state by adding them to the power options

This can help a lot if you have a very bad case of flicker, but it will also reduce the performance of the device a bit. Try setting it lower to reduce the heat produced by the CPU.

To add these settings you can go to this link. 

How to add to power options

Step 3: Download official intel drivers.

The only reason you might want to use these is for more control. Microsoft's intel drivers does not include the ability make any power settings. To install the intel divers you need to follow these steps.

Download the ZIP rom here. Don't use the exe.

Intel Drivers

1. Unzip all the files
2. Go to device manager, open properties for the display adapter and choose update driver.
3. Choose browse my computer for driver software.
4. Choose "let me pick from available drivers on my computer."
5. Click "have disk..", and browse to where you unzipped the intel drivers.

After installing you now have access to the intel control panel. Which looks like this.

Here you can do some further settings to reduce the heat produced. The settings above seemed to work well for me. No flicker even during heavy gaming, but I did notice a bit of loss in FPS in some games. But I'd rather have that than constant screen flicker. 

*** NOTE!!! ***

This does not fix the fact that the Surface has heat issues, but it will allow you to control how much heat is prouduced, and reduce the flicker that way. Cleaning vents, and clocking down by changing power settings of your Surface can reduce the heat, and thus, reduce or eliminate the flicker.

Conclusion

This is most likely a hardware issue caused by heat damaging the screen or some screen component over time, which will make the flicker more apparent after some usage. I think microsoft sacrificed a bit too much on the heat side to keep the device slim. I hope upcoming devices they will do way more testing under heavy load to reduce heat related problems.

Replacing the Surface or the Screen is the only Permanent fix for this, but hopefully this little guide can help some to reduce or eliminate their flickering.

And again happy new year everyone!

i will try on that, thanks tunepunk.

Hopefully this will reduce the flickering to a level that the device is still usable. very disappointed with Microsoft.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I wanted to start off this year by fixing my Surface, so I did some investigation. I'm currently using my replacement device after having this issue on my first Surface. This Replacement started having issues as well a month or so ago, and to the point where not even adding seconds to clock would help. I had constant screen flicker and jumping, especially when gaming.

It's quite apparent that it's a heat related issue, and also that it's affecting people after some time. From previous experience I've also had heat issues with laptops before, so I got some hints from there. Here's a step to step guide on how to reduce, or completely remove the screen flickering. Note! It greately reduced my flicker but I can't guarantee it works for everyone.

I used this software called SpeedFan just to get some temperature readings. I noticed most flicker when the Temp1: was at 60C+ Screen would flicker constantly above that, even when something was moving on screen, or while I was gaming. Between 40C and 60C screen would flicker while something was not moving on screen. Below 40C I had no issues. 

Step 1: Vacuum all the vents!!!!

This is by far the most important! From previous experience with laptops they always caused problem when overheating. Over time, dust hair, and other gunk, might get in to the device and reduce the airflow, especially if you use your device in the bed, or in the sofa, or if you have furry pets. So Vacuum the vents on a regular basis. Do it very thoroughly, with a small nossle, or in other way restrict the airflow to a smaller point so that you get maximum suction from the vents. After Vacuuming I could see that my Idle temperatures was greatly reduced all over and gaming temperatures lower as well, and flickering was somewhat reduced. Keep vacuming on a regular basis! To to keep the airflow free from dust etc.

On an old laptop that was also having heat issues, doing above procedure prodcued a hamster sized dust ball from the fan area, and the Laptop was back to normal. :D

Step 2: Change the Power settings.

The more power your CPU uses, the more heat is generated. These settings are hidden on the Surface but you can add them manually for more control. Changing power setting to maximum Battery life might be enough, but if you want more control you can change the maximum and minimum processor state by adding them to the power options

This can help a lot if you have a very bad case of flicker, but it will also reduce the performance of the device a bit. Try setting it lower to reduce the heat produced by the CPU.

To add these settings you can go to this link. 

How to add to power options

Step 3: Download official intel drivers.

The only reason you might want to use these is for more control. Microsoft's intel drivers does not include the ability make any power settings. To install the intel divers you need to follow these steps.

Download the ZIP rom here. Don't use the exe.

Intel Drivers

1. Unzip all the files
2. Go to device manager, open properties for the display adapter and choose update driver.
3. Choose browse my computer for driver software.
4. Choose "let me pick from available drivers on my computer."
5. Click "have disk..", and browse to where you unzipped the intel drivers.

After installing you now have access to the intel control panel. Which looks like this.

Here you can do some further settings to reduce the heat produced. The settings above seemed to work well for me. No flicker even during heavy gaming, but I did notice a bit of loss in FPS in some games. But I'd rather have that than constant screen flicker. 

*** NOTE!!! ***

This does not fix the fact that the Surface has heat issues, but it will allow you to control how much heat is prouduced, and reduce the flicker that way. Cleaning vents, and clocking down by changing power settings of your Surface can reduce the heat, and thus, reduce or eliminate the flicker.

Conclusion

This is most likely a hardware issue caused by heat damaging the screen or some screen component over time, which will make the flicker more apparent after some usage. I think microsoft sacrificed a bit too much on the heat side to keep the device slim. I hope upcoming devices they will do way more testing under heavy load to reduce heat related problems.

Replacing the Surface or the Screen is the only Permanent fix for this, but hopefully this little guide can help some to reduce or eliminate their flickering.

And again happy new year everyone!

How about posting on those online reviews? or contact the reviewers? I myself dont know how.

e.g.

https://www.laptopmag.com/benchmarks/weighthttp://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/best-ultrabook-18-top-thin-and-lights-1054355

https://www.t3.com/features/best-ultraportable-laptop

writing reviewers has been done ad nauseum, the only reviewer/tech company to write about the issue has been Computer World.