Surface Book 3 - Constant freezes

Question

I have had the surface book 3 since launch day, and I must say I'm not happy. There have been some random buggy things like a blue screen of death, and the screen not detaching a few times. However my main issue right now is little one to five second freezes happening constantly. I have done everything in my power to try to troubleshoot it but I am out of ideas. So far I have tried:

• -  stopping all running background applications
• • check disk
• • defrag (I know)
• • memory diagnostic tool. Also that should note that the memory diagnostic tool locks at 21% if put in extended mode. Recently read that if you turn cache on it will fix it but I have not tried this yet (because it takes so long)
• • Microsoft firmware updates as well as Intel's and NVidia
• • driver updates
• • Perf Mon monitoring during freezes for CPU / Mem spikes (once saw a 100% CPU usage of an unhandled exception)

Sometime when it freezes, I hear a very faint pop from the speakers.

If I am typing when the freeze happens, whatever keystroke I am on will act as if I held down the key like ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttthis

Surface Book 3 15" Touch-Screen PixelSense™ - 2-in-1 Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 32GB Memory - 512GB SSD - Platinum

Answer 1

Hi BrianSurfaceGuy,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

BSOD errors normally appear if there are system files that are currently corrupted and it keeps on looping around causing the device to freeze or crash. So to initially troubleshoot this issue, what I'd like you to do is to run the system file checker. To run the system file checker, kindly type Command Prompt on the search box next to the Windows icon and run it as administrator. Once done, type and enter sfc /scannow. Let it load, detect and repair those corrupted files.

If the issue persists, please run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkitand see if this helps. 

If this helps, feel free to mark this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread if you need further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z

Answer 2

Thanks for the tips, but this did not resolve the issue.

I may have an idea what is causing it though! After some experimenting, the problem only occurs when I am plugged in to the docking station - which is a version one. I have a Surface Dock 2 landing tomorrow - we will see if that is the solution! Maybe it is constantly switching from charging to powered due to the dock being underpowered, and that causes these micro-freezes? I will report back my findings!

Answer 3

Thanks for sharing, BrianSurfaceGuy. Let us know if the issue is being caused by an older Surface dock.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z

Answer 4

@Crest_Z - Problem still happens on Surface hub 2.. Does not happen when plugged in to normal power supply.

Plugged in to the hub are:

2 External Monitors via USB C to VGA converters

1/8" plug for speakers

Powered USB hub that has:

• USB keyboard
• Epson Artisan 730 printer
• Jabra Wireless headset / cradle

It froze 3 times while I was writing this.