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Surface Pro 4 problems - Are all of them known?

Anonymous
2016-01-15T14:49:50+00:00

I have been using my Surface Pro 4 (i7/16GB/512GB) since Dec. 7th and have been having the following issues:

  • Device overheating and draining the battery when asleep.
  • Screen not turning on when waking up from sleep (I can see the infrared camera light on but the screen doesn't come on)
  • Fan constantly turning on for no apparent reason when using the device. Even when just browsing the web on Edge and CPU stable at 13-20%.
  • Display driver crashing (still happens to me at least once a week)
  • Device hangs completely, forcing me to hold the power button for 30 seconds to force a reboot. Happens at least once a week.
  • Maps can't render streets in map view because of the Intel Iris GPU drivers.
  • YouTube videos don't play (image corrupted) sometimes after waking up from hibernate.
  • BSOD - had a couple since I had the device.

I'm using the very latest software having all Windows Updates installed. Windows version is 10586.63 released this Tuesday.

Some of the problems seem to be more frequent when I have the device connected to the Surface Dock and my external 4K monitor. Namely the overheating/constant fan and the graphics driver crash.

I have seen other people having similar issues but I would appreciate if there was someone who could tell me whether Microsoft is aware of them, which ones are due to software and what they are doing to fix it.

I have a deadline of Feb 4th to return the device and accessories. I love the device when it is working well but I'm not prepared to live with the list of issues above indefinitely so what I'm looking for is some word from Microsoft on whether I should stick with it and they will fix the issues imminently or whether I should cut my losses and return it.

Also, I don't want to do a reset/restore of a device that is brand new. I have tweaked settings, applications and so on over the last month to get the device just the way I want it and the thought of having to start over is daunting, even more as I don't believe it would fix all of the problems above.

Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-02-18T22:47:39+00:00

    I'm updating this thread for future reference.

    After the 2/17/16 firmware update for the Surface Pro 4 all the issues I listed on the OP minus the issue with Edge sometimes consuming too much CPU time seem to have been resolved.

    After the update the device is faster, has better battery life, standby now uses little power and I haven't had any display driver crashes or freezes even when connected to my dock and having an addition monitor to drive.

    I'm still very disappointed by how Microsoft dealt with these issues without clear communication and supports response was just about useless. In the future I'd like Microsoft to be a bit more transparent about what they are doing to fix issues on a device that I dropped nearly £2K for.

    That said I'm thoroughly happy with my unit now and look forward to it getting better with further Windows and firmware updates.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-22T22:24:57+00:00

    Thanks for that.

    I did check the link you sent me and although the platform installer package was published on Jan 4th, the filenames point to the drivers package being from Dec 16th so I downloaded the .zip file and checked the versions of the drivers contained vs. what I had on my device and they all match. That drivers package was published on Windows Update on Dec 17th under 'System Hardware Update - 17/12/2015'.

    I did notice marked improvements after that, TBH, but it did not fix the issues I listed above for me.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-01-22T21:59:26+00:00

    I got my SP4 (same spec as yours) for Christmas and loved it but like you, the shine wore off quickly with the problems I was having.

    After messing for a bit though, I've managed to get it to a much more stable place.

    The latest driver and firmware pack is not yet available on Windows update but can be downloaded direct from Microsoft here:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49498

    I used the MSI and found it to be fine. I don't have the dock though so couldn't comment on that.

    Another tweak I've done is follow this post:

    http://forums.galciv3.com/474688

    It has *massively* improved battery life and the fan rarely comes on any more, and I have not noticed any performance drops (though in fairness, haven't tried any modern games recently to give that a test, though I don't see it as being a problem because if I wanted to play demanding games for any length of time, I'd plug it in anyway).

    I get far fewer problems with it now, no wake from sleep problems that I can recall, no BSODs and onlt occasion display driver crashes (think...improved, not perfected yet :-)

    Hope this helps!

    Ant.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-21T21:21:09+00:00

    Ad-hoc networking doesn't work. At all.

    The Marvel networking hardware supports it.

    The Surface driver for the Marvel Hardware does not.

    This is a Microsoft issue. They chose to not support it.

    Microsoft has posted networking articles stating Ad-Hoc is deprecated and

    they tell us to use Wifi-Direct.

    Microsoft offers no way to connect to other devices with wifi-direct.

    Don't take away something and give us NO alternatives please.

    Just bite the bullet and update the drivers PLEASE!!

    Common uses for ad-hoc are seemless file transfer between devices

    allowing you to bypass the router.

    Common in MODERN higher-end cameras.

    Also useful when wanting to stream video directly to a device. Bypassing

    the router is great for avoiding increased latency in this situation.

    If not, please create apps for Android & Windows 7+ that recreate this seemlessly.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-01-19T21:07:53+00:00

    I got my Surface 4 Pro i7, 16G Ram 256G storage on 11/7, the day it was released.  I applied all the updates and installed Norton Antivirus and Adobe Reader DC.  I always check for system and antivirus updates when I turn the system on so I am always up to date.  

    Within 24 hours I was experiencing problems with my touchpad where the mouse pointer would disappear as well as hard system freezes. Dropped Norton on Microsoft recommendation and used Windows Defender. No change in behavior and I could not find any fixes. Left the system with Microsoft and they could not find a problem.

    Went back to Microsoft and exchanged my system on 12/27 for a new one. My problems continued and intensified and I got new problems to boot. Volume button bring up the screen for "Lock, Switch User, Sign Out, Task Manager"; crazy power on/off (hibernation?) where it could take 5 minutes to shut down/power up; phantom touches and more.

    Went back to Microsoft and exchanged my system again on 1/3. Same old same old things got worse. 

    Went back to Microsoft and returned my SP4 for a refund on 1/19

    Here are the main problems:

    1. Mouse (touchpad) becomes unresponsive for brief periods – 15 – 60 seconds.
    2. Erratic sensitivity to touch / mouse clicks
    3. Screen brightness fluctuates while plugged in and powered
    4. Multiple hard system lock-ups each day. No response to anything. Recovery required hard shutdown with power button.
    5. Volume button – when trying to increase the volume the screen for “Lock, Switch User, Sign out, and Task Manager” came up. Volume down did not work either. This problem eventually went away after a few days and restarts.
    6. Video corruption whereby a video would stop while the sound continued.
    7. Hibernation? System would appear to shut down or sleep when I walked away. System would not return to “current state” with keyboard, mouse, or power button. System would not power down/up for 5 – 10 minutes. 
    8. Poor battery life

    That experience aside, I will keep my eye on Microsoft's progress as I love my SP3 and really wanted the SP4 to replace a desktop.

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