Surface Pro 7 flickers with every external monitor

Anonymous
2019-12-19T15:19:53+00:00

When I connect an external display while the Surface is already turned on, the external display is flickering. When I restart the Surface with the external monitor already attached everything works fine. Disconnecting the Surface then and reconnecting

  • same problem. The flickering appears with different monitors, different cables and with different connectors (Surface Dock or USB-C). I have the 16 GB, i7 Version of the Surface 7 with an up to date OS.
Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-04-27T18:06:53+00:00

    Good discussion; however, on a pretty sad topic.

    I really don't want to use the USB-C port as I invested decent money into a Microsoft dock.

    Wanted to share some additional observations:

    • Appears to have less issues with only one external monitor (use a LG Ultra HD 4k via DP)
    • The other monitor I used was sometimes making an interesting sound when or before having issues (flicker, on and off, etc.)
    • I used different power outlets but it didn't seem to have an impact
    • Lots of issues with display refresh rates and kind of conflicts between intel graphic command center and windows system tools...e.g. the 4k display went from 60hz randomly to 30hz and the other monitor (1920x1400) went to 1920x1080 which distorted the picture...

    Since this is the second SP7 with sort of identical issues it has to be HW or lots of other users would complain as well. Using a second or more monitors should be pretty common place, particularly in these days. Maybe they had a batch of SP7s with some small manufacturing issues and I (and you) just all happen to have them....changing might be the only option. Darn it, it takes always hours (even with OneDrive etc.) to have it all working again...no fun in that...

    Theo

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-01-15T13:04:02+00:00

    Micorsoft how about an updated GPU driver yeah?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-14T08:40:36+00:00

    Hi everyone reading this,

    I seem to have the same problem. 

    No problems on Surface Pro 4. 

    Problems on Surface Pro 7.

    Because I still have both machines, I posted a video on Youtube showing the situation:

    https://youtu.be/5UpDHOU2Fas

    would you say that this accurately describes "our" problem?

    Kind regards,

    Keimpe

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-01-02T08:45:01+00:00

    I also have this problem with my i7 Surface Pro 7, have contacted support about 5 times and none of the software updates and solutions have done anything to help the issue. Seems support is blaming Windows 10 and saying to wait for a software update and that scaling is the problem... have tried all sorts of scaling and nothing fixes the issue other than a restart of the computer, until it is disconnected from the monitor. Never had this issue the entire time with my pro 4.

    Thanks for letting me know that at least I'm not the only one with this annoying issue. Although it doesn't help with the issue it helps with reassuring me that this issue isn't on me. ;-) All the suggestions from the support here are certainly well meaned but none of them are really solving the issue indeed. I'm a longtime user of Surface (Pro) devices myself and also never had the issue before.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-12-19T16:16:47+00:00

    Hi there, Flatted5!

    Thanks for reaching Microsoft Community. We are sorry to learn that you have issues with the external displays whenever it is connected to the Surface Pro 7 via USB-C or Surface Dock. 

    I want to ask questions so we can clarify and understand the situation better.

    -What is the brand and model of the external displays?

    -What type of cable did you use and its length? 

    -Are your devices plugged into the wall outlet, extension, or surge protector?

    -Are those monitors using HDMI?

    Looking forward for your response.

    Regards,

    Janette_Z

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