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
    2017-06-14T13:23:12+00:00

    I second this. I don't think it's a temperature problem either, considering that I first got the issue while I was writing my thesis and reading research papers; no computationally intensive task was being performed. Plus, it's winter here. If it's anything temperature-related, the only thing I could think of is the wear-and-tear of whatever display controller IC the Surface Pro 4 has due to thermal cycling after months/years of ownership. In which case, that points to very poor quality control on Microsoft's part. Regardless, I still think the problem is related to how the firmware is handling Panel Self Refresh, given that jittering only starts when nothing moves on screen. Not to mention, it even happens on the UEFI screen.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-14T13:10:56+00:00

    I too do not believe it to be a temperature issue unless the damage has been done during a previous session when the system has become too hot and damaged a component related to the screen. I now get judder whenever i switch the system on, right now I am only running google chrome and nothing more so the system is under very little load. I think we've all established its noting to do with Windows itself and more to do with firmware as the judder will sometimes show when you load into the bios. Strangely though the issue did not occur for a day following the last firmware update only return the next time I switched the system on.

    I really wish Microsoft would clearly state what the issue is and what we can do to fix it. £400 to replace the system only to have the issue arise once more is not a viable option, has anyone paid the £29 to speak to the support team? If so did they say anything other than the usual BS that we've now all done a few hundred times?

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-06-14T12:38:34+00:00

    I think it's not a temperature problem, since most of time my surface feels pretty cool... and I've seen someone else monitoring it, the temperature's pretty normal;

    As for the question, I believe that the problem does not show on attached screens or screen casting, a few users in this thread has mentioned that.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-14T12:05:07+00:00

    Note that the only way I know to eliminate the jittering is to let the screen rest for a while, and it seems that the longer it rests, the time it takes to jitter after boot is longer.

    That makes it sound like a temperature thing.  Have you monitored that?  Would it help to keep the machine cooled?  (There are such things as laptop coolers.)   Also, this still doesn't help me understand if the problem is with the screen hardware or the device firmware (acknowledging that some say once it happens the problem symptom is still present even without the OS running.)  In particular, does the problem symptom show on attached screens?

    HTH

    Robert 

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