If your Lenovo laptop flickers or blinks, the culprit is usually a faulty graphics driver or an incompatible software program. So if your Lenovo laptop has a glitching or flickering problem, kindly follow this troubleshooting guide to fix it.

  1. Check if Task Manager flickers
  2. Reinstall your graphics drivers in safe mode
  3. Update BIOS
  4. Run SFC
  5. Uninstall an incompatible app

Please note that the screenshots in this guide are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well. Both Windows 11 and Windows 10 users can encounter this Lenovo laptop flickering issue.

1. Check if Task Manager flickers

To start troubleshooting, you have to make sure whether the display driver or an app conflict is causing your Lenovo laptop screen to flicker. It’s NOT recommended to skip this step, since you have to determine what to do next based on the information Task Manager gives you.

To do the check:

  1. On your keyboard, press Ctrl, Alt, and Delete together and select Task Manager. (Or you can press Ctrl, Shift, and Esc together to open Task Manager.)
  2. If you see Task Manager flicker as well, then it’s highly likely to be a graphics driver issue. In this case, please start with Tip #2 to fix the driver.
  3. If Task Manager doesn’t flicker while the rest of your screen does, then an incompatible app is seemingly the cause. In this case, you can skip to Tip #5 to uninstall the app first. Then, check if your graphics driver needs an update.

2. Reinstall your graphics drivers in safe mode

Now we have narrowed the reasons down to a problematic display card driver. If your Task Manager flickers as the rest of your screen does, the very first thing you should do is reinstall your graphics drivers. You can uninstall the driver in Device Manager first. We recommend doing this in safe mode to make sure that the uninstallation is done cleanly with no remaining faulty driver files left.

Here’s how you can uninstall the display card driver in Safe Mode:

  1. On the taskbar, click the Start icon. Then click the power button and select Restart.
  2. When you see the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings >Restart.
  3. When you see the Startup Settings screen, click F4 to Enable Safe Mode.
  4. When in the Safe Mode, press the Windows logo key and X together on your keyboard and select Device Manager.
  5. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then right-click your graphic card driver and click Uninstall device (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  6. Select Attempt to remove the driver for this device and click Uninstall to proceed.
  7. If you have two graphics cards on your laptop, then repeat the above to uninstall the other display card driver as well.
  8. Then check if Lenovo releases a new graphics driver from the Lenovo support website. If you see a newer driver, download and install it.

If you can’t tell if there’s a newer driver, or can’t tell which driver is the right one for your display card , you can simply go to Driver Techie., which helps scan and repair outdated, corrupt, or missing drivers.

To install the latest graphics driver with Driver Techie:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now for Driver Techie to scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All (for Pro subscribers) to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system (this requires the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All). Or, you can click the Update button next to the flagged graphics driver to automatically download the correct version of that driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version as instructed here).

Furthermore, if you’ve subscribed to Driver Techie Pro, and need our technical support to help with the Lenovo laptop screen flickering problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

3. Update BIOS

Outdated BIOS can also be the reason why your Lenovo laptop screen flickers or blinks. Hence, you can try updating your BIOS if the flickering issue still persists after trying the above.

Important Note: Any mistake made while updating BIOS can cause data loss and a system crash to your laptop. Please make sure you have backed up your data before doing so. If you’re not sure you could handle this, please seek help from a technician.

To update your BIOS:

  1. Open the Lenovo support website.
  2. Search your product. (Alternatively, you can select Detect Product or Browse Product.)
  3. In the Drivers & Software tab, select Manual Update > BIOS/UEFI.
  4. If you see a BIOS Update available, click the arrow icon under See Files, and then you should be able to download the BIOS Update package.
  5. When done, double-click the executable (.exe) file and follow the on-screen instructions to install the BIOS update to your laptop.
  6. Restart your laptop to see if the problem is fixed.

If the screen is still flickering, please move on to the next solution and check if your drivers are successfully installed.

4. Run SFC

In some cases, Windows may fail to install the graphics drivers you’ve downloaded, resulting in the Lenovo laptop screen flickering or blinking issue. You can do an SFC scan to detect and resolve any faulty system files. This works for many of those affected by the laptop screen flickering or bliking issue.

Here’s what you can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt, type cmd and press Shift, Ctrl, and Enter together to open the Command prompt.
  2. In the Command prompt, paste the following command lines and press the Enter key, Windows will automatically detect and repair files that went corrupted.
    dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
    SFC /scannow

Once SFC finishes, restart your laptop and check if the screen flickers. If so, you’ll need to contact Lenovo Local Service Provider to check for hardware issues.

5. Uninstall an incompatible app

Based on what we have got in Tip #1, if Task Manager doesn’t flicker, there could be an app conflict causing your Lenovo screen to flicker. In this scenario, the instant way to fix it is to uninstall the incompatible app. (Please note that this tip doesn’t work on Windows 10.)

According to users, apps like 3D Viewer, OneNote, Paint 3D, and Skype (all came pre-installed on Windows 10) are not compatible with Windows 11, but they are still available to download on Microsoft Store. If you have recently downloaded such apps on your Lenovo laptop with Windows 11 OS, then it’s recommended to uninstall them, here’s how you can do it:

  1. Click Start > Settings > Apps > Apps & features.
  2. Scroll down the list of apps and find the one you want to uninstall.
  3. Select the app, and click Uninstall > Uninstall. If you’re prompted to confirm your choice, select Yes.

Now, your Lenovo laptop screen should be working fine.

Conclusion

When your Lenovo laptop screen starts flickering or blinking, the first thing you should do is check if the Task Manager flickers as well, since it helps you narrow down the causes.

Once you see the Task Manager is flickering as well, then you should reinstall your graphics drivers and/or update your BIOS. After that, run the System File Checker (SFC) to make sure the drivers are successfully installed and no corrupt files are interfering with your screen.

If you have installed an app that is incompatible with your operating system, then your Task Manager may not flicker as the rest of the screen does. You should now uninstall the app to resolve the problem.

As a reminder, we recommend you always keep your device drivers updated, as outdated ones can cause numerous issues to your device. You can check this post to update your device drivers. If you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.