Jittering screen on Surface Pro 4

[Earth_2]

I got my Surface Pro 4 about 3 months ago, and until a few days ago it has been working pretty much perfectly. However, within the last few days, I've had this really irritating headache-inducing problem where the bottom three-quarters of the screen jitters and shakes up and down slightly. It's probably not a coincidence: it started around the same time that I partitioned my hard drive and doodled around in the EFI partition to get it to dual-boot Arch Linux.

And that's what's so curious about it, is that the problem occurs no matter what I'm doing, whether I'm booted into Windows 10 or Linux, in a command terminal or in the UEFI menu. Also, it typically doesn't happen if I turn on the computer after not using it for a while, but starts to get worse after extended use. Rebooting doesn't seem to do anything. I checked to make sure all my firmware drivers were up-to-date and had installed properly, reinstalled some as necessary, and the problem persists.

It all feels like a hardware problem, since it happens irrespective of which software I'm running, but it's hard to imagine it's not related to my fiddling around. Does anybody have any idea what's happening, and what I can do to fix it?

EDIT: It seems that the "Surface Embedded Controller Firmware" still isn't properly installed, despite my best efforts to fix that multiple times now. What are the odds that that's what's responsible for this awful screen shaking?

 

[GreyFox7]

Can only offer a guess but my guess is it's a hardware issue with the screen. To eliminate the software angle Id wipe the disk and do a Full RESET to factory conditions.

For future experimentation you might want to get a copy of Macrium Reflect (free) and image your system first so recovery is much easier. Then make other images of configurations as needed and for convenience.

 

[jnjroach]

For the Embedded Controller Firmware fix try here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3145770

As far as Screen Jittering I'm getting this in Outlook on the latest build, typically after coming out of Connected Standby or Hibernation.

 

[Earth_2]

Well, the controller firmware has successfully updated, and sure enough, the jittering persists. I guess I'll try backing up my entire disk and doing a factory reset as GreyFox7 suggested (will it let me restore everything back to where it was, if I want it to?)

 

[robertnd2]

I have had a similar issue for several months and it has been getting progressively worse (it started out of the blue). It started with the bottom half inch of the screen "jittering". In the beginning, it would stop after 5-10 minutes of turning the display on, which I attribute to it warming up or something. Over time, it no longer went away after warming up. Right now it does it all of the time and the size of the area is larger..it is now the bottom inch and a half of the screen. I have pretty much decided recently that this has got to be a display hardware issue and I am going to have to send the device back for replacement. I really don't want to do that, but I see no other option at this point. This seems to be popping up more and more of late..there are a few threads about this now.

 

[NK2020]

Well, the controller firmware has successfully updated, and sure enough, the jittering persists. I guess I'll try backing up my entire disk and doing a factory reset as GreyFox7 suggested (will it let me restore everything back to where it was, if I want it to?)

Hi @Earth_2 , @robertnd2 : I have been facing the same problem past couple of weeks. When I contacted Support, they asked me to do a 'reset' and when the issue persisted after that, they told me its a h/w issue and that I should get it replaced under warranty. Unfortunately, I am in a different country than where it was purchased so this is a major headache for me right now. I am just hoping its not actually a h/w issue and some software update in the near future fixes it for me! Did you guys manage to resolve this issue at your end?

 

[Earth_2]

I actually had to do just that: I got it replaced, under warranty, in a different country than the one I purchased it in. My attempt at doing a factory reset didn't fix anything, much to my frustration. I restored onto the new computer from the disk image, extra partitions and all, and it's working fine (so far.) I do worry, though, that if it's a hardware issue that it will start happening again in a few months and I'll have to repeat the whole thing over again. Here's crossing my fingers, though.

Sorry if that's not the solution you wanted to hear. If you can find a better solution definitely share it with us for future reference.

 

[NK2020]

Hi @Earth_2 , thanks, I appreciate your inputs! Did you face any problems with getting it replaced in a different country? I had purchased mine in the US and am trying to get it replaced in India (where the SP4 has in fact been released) - but Surface support is giving me hell right now.