Rubin Shrestha
Rubin Shrestha
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How to prevent external monitors from flickering during a Windows Notification Event?

by |Published

I have a Lenovo Gen 6 E14.

I have it currently connected to a Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 docking station. Via Display Ports, I have two external monitors connected to it. Whenever Chrome triggers a notifcation, I expereince a flicker on both external monitors.

UPDATE: I can trigger the notification via powershell alone, chrome path not needed:

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms, System.Drawing
$icon = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
$icon.Icon = [System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Information
$icon.Visible = $true
$icon.ShowBalloonTip(5000, 'Test Flicker Notification', 'This may cause external monitors to flicker shortly if connected via external docking station / port replicator', 'Info')
Start-Sleep -Seconds 6
$icon.Dispose()

In Chrome, via its Dev Tools I can force the defect it via:

async function sendTestNotification() {
  const permission = await Notification.requestPermission();
  
  if (permission === "granted") {
    new Notification("Test Notification", { 
      body: "This is a test from Chrome console!" 
    });
  }
}

sendTestNotification();

my external monitors flicker. On one, I see an inverted (as in negative colors) an smaller wallpaper screen, and on the other the apps seems to be redrawn at the wrong places. The defect lasts about ~1.5 second, then it normalizes.

The issue is not related to the Thunderbolt Station, as I had the same defect with a USBC port replicator that offered two HDMI output. A chrome notificaiton would issue the same behavior.

I assume it relates to either Windows 11, or a graphic driver issue with my Lenovo Thinkpad E14.

My Windows is:

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 25H2
Installed on    ‎Tue, ‎2024-‎10-‎01
OS build    26200.8894
Experience  Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.334.0

My Thinkpad reports this modell number in Vantage:

Product number: 21M7CTO1WW
Bios: R2JET48W(1.25 )

I tried:

  • Disabling adaptive sync.

  • Changing the rerfresh rate (currently forced) at 59.95Hz per monitor

  • disabling MPO (Multi-Plane Overlay)

I also checked for a USB reenumeration issue (as in: loose cable connection, Tunderbolt defect) by checking if it would randomly disconnect prior befire I pinpointed the issue with the notification.

How to prevent these flickers during when a notification appears?

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