Hello,
I have a Surface Pro 4-i7 16GB Ram 256GB SSD which I purchased in December 2015.
After a couple of months of use I started to get a coloured-banding issue across the screen (Video capture of the issue provided at the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loYD4ANL-yA&t=18s
I sent back my unit for inspection under warranty and received a replacement unit within a week. It seemed to be a refurbished unit (which was mildly frustrating, trading in a 2-month old, out of the box, new unit for refurbished), however the screen was working and it was in fairly good condition so I was happy enough. I loved the product, and it was ideal for my uses (high-performance, portable, with a great display).
Fast forward to November/December this year and I am now out of warranty, and the 2nd unit has developed a screen flicker issue.
This issue is the same issue reported on this forum:
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4-surfdrivers/surface-pro-4-screen-flickering-shacking/570165cb-50a0-4d71-bcb1-310ddd869d1d
(Main Thread)
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4-surfdrivers/surface-pro-4-
screen-flicker-since-may-25-update/3285a0be-c493-4ec3-913e-eae23ac64299
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4-surfdrivers/surface-pro-4-i5-
screen-flickering/f8d3629b-34d3-4a40-9952-987184812a36
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4-surfdrivers/massive-screen-
flickering-issue-surface-pro-4/0d0984aa-5518-476e-b481-c8ee39b4b58a
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...al-lines/022f46b4-775d-42f7-92ef-dd9f7f9e25b5
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...en-shake/77f46407-52c3-4608-97e1-68b563c6b215
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ickering/2106e0b9-242c-47c1-bda1-46e49d1ce4ce
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-acts-up/3be5877a-08ca-4536-9cbe-c8ac60b6b63e
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...en-shake/8d2b335b-e4e2-4869-a9cc-38900865b0f7
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-support/3ec38581-e44d-4e35-b3f9-4747d9b1af8f
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ay-issue/cd1f17b8-e62e-4f36-9dc5-3bb3256a672f
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...g-screen/066c1cf6-c106-48fb-b697-0ba1081020ea
...as well as some independent sources:
- https://www.change.org/p/microsoft-microsoft-surface-pro-4-screen-flickering-or-
blurry
I have captured a new video for my occurrence of this issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLu7nABzTEo
I have been through the forums and the suggestions from the Microsoft Technical Team, none of which have worked for me:
- Check Windows Updates
- Check / Reinstalation of Display Drivers
- Check / Remove Previously known app issues causing flicker (e.g. Duet Display)
- MS Software Repair Tool
- Disable Hyper-V in windows features.
- Surface Reset
I do also appreciate that it is a difficult problem to troubleshoot, as it's an intermittent issue and there seem to have been other similar screen issues which were software related which are given as suggestions for this particular problem. All (non-microsoft) sources point to a hardware issue due to heating/High CPU.
I'm now in a position where I have tried all the suggested avenues, the issue seems fairly widespread (the main thread has 121 pages of comments of users who are experiencing the same issue), I am out of warranty, and based in the UK so there is no store to take this product to.
My only option would seem to be to pay an additional £400 and ship this device for a out-of-warranty replacement. However, considering this is already my 2nd device with a hardware screen issue, would you expect me to have the confidence that the new unit won't have or develop the same issue?
I paid a premium for this device at the time, and £400 without confidence that this issue isn't going to re-occur is a large ask.
Could you please assist advising on any other option I have which I may have missed?
Many Thanks,
Craig
