Surface Pro 7 flickers with every external monitor

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.

I have the exact problem with my brand new surface pro 7, i7, 16gb. Hooking up two external monitors via mini dp to dp cables through the surface dock. OS is updated, surface dock is updated. Registry cleared/updated.

The really weird thing is that i use the exact set up with my older surface book 1 without any problems. So definitely not the set up. 

I love the SP7, but will likely have to return it because of this.

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.

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.

Hello Flatted5,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We really appreciate all the efforts that you did just to possibly resolve the issue.

Download the Surface Updater tool.

To update your Surface Dock, follow the instructions at Update your Surface Dock.

Clear your display cache.

1. Undock your Surface from the Surface Dock.
2. Download the Surface Dock registry file. Choose to Open the file.
3. Select and run surface dock registry.reg.
4. Select Yes to allow changes to your Surface, select Yes to confirm, and then select OK to close.
5. Restart your Surface, reconnect it to the Surface Dock, and try your external display again.

Reset the dock and monitor

• Remove the Surface Connector from your Surface, turn the connector over, and plug it in again. Make sure that the connection is secure and the indicator light is on.
• If you’re still having problems, try resetting the power by unplugging your Surface Dock from the power outlet and plugging it in again.
• Try unplugging your monitor from the power outlet and plugging it back in.

If this answer your question, we highly encourage you to inform our Community by clicking on Yes or marking my post as an answer. This will help other members who may have the same issue as you. Otherwise, don't hesitate to update us so we can further assist you.

Regards,

Jonas_T

Hi Janette,

I'm using displays of different brands, including Dell, EIZO and Philips. I tried on all monitors HDMI and DisplayPort - always the same outcome. With USB-C I'm using an USB-C to HDMI adapter from the brand "uni" (which got excellent reviews on Amazon). With power supply it doesn't matter if the Surface is plugged in or not, I got always the the same issue.

My guess is that this is not a hardware issue but a software issue, because I got a functioning environment at the end, but I have to restart my Surface every time with the monitor plugged in. This is very annoinig in case of unplugging the Surface for a meeting and then replugging it.

BR

Flatted5