Some players are finding that their Xbox Series X flickers on the dashboard and sometimes loses signal entirely when launching games. Unfortunately, as early adopters, those who purchased the Xbox Series X at launch are facing hardware compatibility issues. These flickering problems, along with the corrupted image and signal loss that can accompany them, can be fixed, but it takes a bit of sacrifice.
How to stop flickering, tearing, and signal loss on Xbox Series X
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The key similarity between players reporting flickering, tearing, and signal loss on the Xbox Series X dashboard is that they have VRR active. All the cases we’ve seen so far were when the system was connected to a Samsung TV or monitor.
Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox Series X|S may face issues when connected to any HDMI 2.1 TV or monitor at 4K/120Hz with VRR active. There are several steps a player can take that might fix the problems with flickering, corrupted image, and signal loss:
- Update TV to the latest firmware.
- Change Xbox Series X settings to:
- Output 4K@60Hz with VRR.
- Output 4K@120Hz without VRR.
- Output 1080p or 1440p@120Hz with VRR.
Unfortunately, if this issue occurs, Xbox Series X owners will likely have to do without 4K@120Hz with VRR. HDMI 2.1 is a new standard. Until Microsoft and the various TV and monitor makers work out the kinks, players are bound to run into hardware incompatibilities.
The cause of the flickering, corrupted image and signal loss on Xbox Series X hasn’t been explained in depth. More than likely, it’s an issue with EDID or an issue with the TV’s use of VRR. The Nvidia 30 series cards saw similar problems with black screens and blown-out pictures with the LG CX series that weren’t solved until LG released a firmware update. Luckily, not many games use 120Hz on Xbox Series X right now, so players can comfortably step down to 60Hz without the fear of missing out on a better framerate.
