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

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.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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]

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

2,779 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2018-02-27T03:43:04+00:00

    HEllo DesCarrollAU

    Just wondering when your problem first appeared. I am also trying the auto brightness Off recommendation buy it is too soon to determine if that works

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-27T03:33:14+00:00

    At this stage, disabling screen auto brightness seems to be helping me.  Thanks Graham Hatley. At my last session of a couple of hours of heavy video editing there was no jitter but only a slight blurring of the text but I will see how future sessions go.

    I'm sympathetic to the claim that this is a hardware/heating issue for reasons stated in my original post.  Since my SP4 is more that two years old now, heating could have caused components to deteriorate rapidly and cause the problem which means that being beyond warranty I might be up the proverbial creek without a paddle in terms of getting the problem solved.  I would be nervous about spending so much money again on another fully-speced SP given the potential for this to occur again.  Tragic that MS will not give any guidance on this.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2018-02-27T00:44:25+00:00

    hi sugarysalt,

    do u have the MFST email? u did call the technical support n what did they conclude of ur case? hardware or software issue?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2018-02-26T15:59:36+00:00

    Hi, Mohd FaizalMohd Noor,

    I assume you are from Malaysia too since you are using Ringgit Malaysia RM2600.

    I am too from Malaysia. And of course I am one of the victim as well. My issue wasn't solve yet as well.

    I did try to reach out to Malaysia Microsoft and open an issue ticket. All the steps that they offer doesn't work, of course, and is a waste of time. I am not sure how aware they are about this issue but they still give me the standard work around and standard issue checking. I did reintall what ever windows and driver that I got, back and ford, nothing works. Then they conclude that this is a hardware issue and offer me about RM2200 if not mistaken, for a refurbish with 3 months warranty.

    instinctively, i refuse the offer and they try to get my consensus to close the ticket but i reject that as well. I told them, the refurbish unit is a refurbish unit because someone own it before and it is somewhat faulty. I presume the unit will start flickering after that.

    If you do check on this thread and thousands of it, those that pay money to get a refurbish one is still facing the same issue. And of course if i return back my unit to MFST, it will be refurbish and fall on your hand one day, if you as well pay and get a refurbish.

    Well, all those are just my own speculation. I did send MFST Malaysia some of the link, including #flickergate, this community thread as well. And here is the black and white email from them. Note that I remove all the name and sensitive information.

    Dear Mr XXXXXX XXXX XXXX,

    Based on your conversation with my Supervisor, Mr XXXXXX, please take note that this case had been addressed to the higher superior.

    Mr XXXXXX will wait for the update from the superior team and will inform you once any update available.

    If you had any inquiry, please reply this email and we will assist further.

    Thank you.

    XXX

    Surface Support

    I would encourage you to do so as this is what we can do by far.

    To those other that having the same pain, did you guys call up and ask the representative to look at this thread? maybe you guys did and they just keep ignoring it? Do let me know.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments