Surface Pro 4 screen scramble

Question

I bought my wife a Surface Pro 4 for Christmas 2016. She uses it mostly for internet searching, pinterest etc.. She has had screen flickering on and off for about 6 months. It only stops if you keep a finger on the touch screen. I have tried all the fixes listed with the drivers, roll back and updates. Nothing has worked and the screen scramble has made the computer unuseable. I just saw on the internet today that this has been an ongoing problem recognized by Microsoft. The problem is they will only go back 3 years, I’m just over that but have been experiencing problems for awhile. With the COVID lock downs I cant take this anywhere to have it looked at. Can someone please help with something to resolve this problem? Thanks

Answer 1

Hi K.H.H.K.,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Community.

For the Surface Pro 4 with the screen flicker or scramble issue, this is a hardware issue already and yes, we offered replacement if the device is still within 3 years from the date it was bought. If it is already outside the 3 year period, an out-of-warranty upgrade for a Surface Pro 5thgen is offered. You may check this page for more details : Surface Pro 4 screen flicker or scrambled. You may also Contact Support to check for other options and further assistance or if you want, you may try to re-install Windows on the device using a USB Recovery Image. This option will reimage the entire device and reload Windows including the drivers and firmware. It is the most complete form of Reset and it will wipe out everything on the device so you might need to back up your files first. You will need also a 16GB/32GB of flash drive that must be formatted into FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image. If you like to try, you can follow the steps provided below:

How to Download, Create and Use a USB recovery drive

To download the Recovery Image:

• You'll need a PC running Windows 7 or later or Surface Device.

1. Visit the page to Download the recovery image for your Surface
2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account
3. From the list of Surface devices available, select the device that you need a recovery image for

Please note that while you will only be presented with devices that are currently registered on your account, you will also be presented with the option to get an image for a different type of device. If you try to use this option, you will be prompted to enter the serial number for that device 4. Download the recovery image using the button on the page 5. When the download bar pops up at the bottom of your screen, save the file in a location you will be able to find it.

 Format USB Drive:

• Note: Formatting a recovery drive will erase anything that is already stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using it to create a Surface USB recovery drive.

1. Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC.
2. From the desktop, open File Explorer
3. Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format
4. Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start
5. Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive
6. Tap or click OK when the format is complete

Create a recovery drive:

1. On your Surface or PC, open recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it or right click then select Extract and then Extract all.
2. Select the USB drive you formatted earlier for the location and click Extract.

Use a USB recovery drive to reset your Surface:

1. Shutdown the Surface
2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port
3. Press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker
4. Press and release the power button
5. When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker
6. Surface will start the recovery software on the USB recovery drive
7. When prompted, choose your language options and keyboard layout
8. Select Troubleshoot
9. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC.
10. If prompted, select Repartition the drives
11. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive

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.

Kind Regards,

Marrion Y.

Answer 2

I had a same issue, the scramble starts after an hour usage of surface pro-4. I did reset the system, but unable to resolve it and still the issue of scramble exist. My surface pro4 is out of warranty, and I would like to get a feed back about buying additional warranty and repair. thanks. 

Best,

Visu

Answer 3

yes they literally are not owning up to anything. Conveniently if you find this out after the 3 year mark, where literately many individuals find themselves, Microsoft is making you pay them more money in order to buy the same one knowing its a hardware issue, with no guarantee that the problem for the surface 4 is fixed. which still leaves you with the same problem. the reset does not work, the reinstall does not work, its a straight hardware issue that they will not fix but make you pay for their mistake, never again!!!

Answer 4

I have tried these steps and they don't work. It's just a red herring and Microsoft should do the honourable thing to replace and not hide behind the three years warranty  as we know that in most cases the issue surfaces after 3 years.

Answer 5

If you didn't contact Microsoft before it will be really hard for them to prove that you had that issue for so long.