Surface Pro 9 Dim Screen Troubleshooting: Ultimate Guide for Fixes

If you are among the users of the Surface Pro 9 who have encountered the frustrating issue of the screen dimming and brightening randomly, this guide is designed to help you troubleshoot and resolve this problem.

Understanding the Issue

The random dimming and brightening of the screen on the Surface Pro 9 is often linked to the adaptive brightness feature. This feature is designed to adjust the screen brightness based on the content displayed and ambient light conditions. However, for some users, this feature can cause more harm than good, leading to intermittent dimming even when it is not necessary[1].

Disabling Adaptive Brightness

One of the simplest and most effective solutions is to disable the adaptive brightness feature. Here’s how you can do it:

Go to the Settings app on your Surface Pro 9.
Navigate to System > Display.
Look for the option that says "Change brightness automatically when lighting changes" or a similar setting related to adaptive brightness.
Uncheck this option to disable adaptive brightness.

Disabling this feature has been reported to resolve the issue for many users, although it may not be ideal for those who rely on this feature for power efficiency and convenience[1][3].

Power and Sleep Settings

Sometimes, the issue can be related to power and sleep settings. Here are some steps to ensure these settings are not causing the problem:

Go to Settings > System > Power & sleep.
Ensure that all sleep settings are disabled or set to a longer duration.
In Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options, make sure that all settings are set to "Never" in the active power profile.
Under Advanced power settings, check if there are any settings related to display brightness that might be causing the issue[3].

Graphics Settings

For users with Intel graphics, the issue might be related to the graphics driver settings. Here’s what you can try:

Open the Intel Graphics Command Center.
Go to System > Power and disable "Enhanced Power Saving".
Check the Display settings to ensure that any automatic brightness adjustments are disabled[3].

Driver Issues

In some cases, the problem could be related to the display driver. Here’s how you can troubleshoot driver issues:

Go to the Device Manager.
Find the display driver under Display Adapters.
Right-click on the driver and select Uninstall device.
Restart your Surface Pro 9. The driver should automatically reinstall upon restart[2].

Hardware Reset

If software solutions do not work, you might need to perform a hardware reset:

Shutdown the system.
Press and hold the Volume Up button, and then press and hold the Power button while still holding the Volume Up button.
This will force the device to restart and may reset any hardware-related issues with the display[4].

UEFI Settings

Although less common, some issues might be related to settings in the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). However, for most Surface Pro 9 models, there are no specific UEFI settings to disable light sensors or adaptive brightness directly[3].

By following these steps, you should be able to identify and resolve the issue of random screen dimming and brightening on your Surface Pro 9. If the problem persists after trying these solutions, it may be worth contacting Microsoft support for further assistance.