Monitors flickering after October 19th Windows 11 update

Fredrik Häthén 0 Reputation points
2026-11-06T14:40:05.17+00:00

I updated Windows 11 on October 19th. Later that same day, I started having a very strange issue: Both of my monitors started "flickering" occasionally around 3 PM (yes, it only happens around then) every day. I say "flickering" because what's really happening is that one of them (the right one) temporarily goes a bit darker, and the left one goes a bit brighter, like someone has messed with the brightness settings on them (but no monitor UI shows up). The screens never turn off, or look like there's a power surge.

I have tried different cables. I also suspected f.lux at first, so I have tried closing it - no difference. I also tried resetting the displays with CTRL+SHIFT+WIN+B - no difference, it still happens. Again, it stops after a while, and only seems to happen around 3 PM.

My graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070.

Since the two occurrences - me updating Windows 11, and this flickering - are at least empirically connected, I would like to ask that this be investigated, to see if something in that update messed with the GPU somehow.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Display and graphics
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  1. DaveM121 946.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-11-06T15:12:49.5033333+00:00

    This is not a reported problem in the October update, it is very strange if this is occurring at a specific time on your PC.

    The best option is to completely remove the current Nvidia device driver using the widely available free DDU utility, then restart your PC and go to the Nvidia website to download and install a couple of slightly older versions of the Nvidia device driver to try to find a version that is stable on your system.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-11-06T14:40:43.8233333+00:00

    The behavior fits a display driver or incompatible app issue more than a monitor power problem, especially since both displays change at the same time and Win+Ctrl+Shift+B did not resolve it.

    Use this isolation path:

    1. Check whether Task Manager flickers when the issue starts.
      • Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, then open Task Manager. If needed, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
      • If Task Manager flickers along with the rest of the screen, the display driver is the likely cause.
      • If Task Manager does not flicker while the rest of the screen changes, an incompatible app is the likely cause.
    2. If it points to the display driver, work through Device Manager.
      • Open Device Manager.
      • Expand Display adapters.
      • Right-click the NVIDIA adapter and select Properties.
      • On the Driver tab:
        • If Windows Update recently changed the driver, select Roll Back Driver > Yes, then restart.
        • Otherwise select Update driver.
      • If updating does not help, return to Properties > Driver and select Uninstall Device.
      • Select Delete the driver software for this device if available, then restart so Windows attempts to reinstall the driver.
      • Note: rolling back or uninstalling the driver requires administrator privileges.
    3. If it points to an app, remove likely display-related apps one at a time.
      • Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.
      • Uninstall apps that can affect display behavior, then restart and test.
      • Since f.lux was already tested by closing it, fully uninstalling it is the relevant next check if Task Manager does not flicker.
    4. If the screen becomes hard to use during troubleshooting, try Safe Mode before uninstalling the display driver.
    5. If the issue started immediately after a Windows update, also try a simple restart after the next occurrence if not already done, since Windows notes that restarting can help in some cases.

    There is also a known Windows 11 24H2 safeguard hold for some NVIDIA display driver versions because affected devices can lose display after updating. On affected systems, updating the NVIDIA display adapter removes the hold and allows installation of newer Windows 11 versions. That documented issue is about upgrade compatibility and loss of display, not the specific brightness-shift pattern described here, but it reinforces checking the NVIDIA driver first.

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