New Surface Laptop 7 - trouble turning screen back on after inactivity

Question

Hi,

I've had the computer for 4 days now and I keep having issues getting it to turn the screen back on after a period of inactivity. I have the device set to turn the screen off after 30 minutes but to never sleep when plugged in. The only way that I can get it to wake without a full restart is to remove the external monitor cable and plug it back in. I tried using the mouse, keyboard, ctrl/alt/del and also a quick tap of the power button.

Is there a good solution here?

Answer 1

Anyone? This seems to be an ongoing issue with other generations of the hardware as well.

Answer 2

Hi BryanSapp,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I'm Hahn and I'm here to help you with your concern.

It sounds like you're having an issue with your Surface Laptop 7 not waking up properly after a period of inactivity, which sounds frustrating. Let's try a few troubleshooting steps to fix this:

• A "clean boot" starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs, so that you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program. How to perform a clean boot in Windows - Microsoft Support

These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance. However, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by-step.

• Run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit: Fix common Surface problems using the Surface app and Surface Diagnostic Toolkit - Microsoft Support
• Manually update Surface drivers and firmware: Download drivers and firmware for Surface - Microsoft Support
• Check Event Viewer for Errors: Use Event Viewer to check for any specific errors or warnings related to power management or display issues. Sometimes this can provide clues on what might be causing the problem.
• Disable Fast Startup: Fast Startup can sometimes cause issues with waking up from sleep. You can disable it by going to Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do and then click on Change settings that are currently unavailable. Uncheck Turn on fast startup (recommended).
• Reset Power Settings: If none of the above steps work, you can try resetting your power settings to default. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run: powercfg /restoredefaultschemes
• Reset using the most appropriate choice. If you've tried basic troubleshooting options, you may need to restore or reset your Surface. If the issue occurs after a reset, then the root cause is very likely hardware related. Restore or reset Surface for Windows - Microsoft Support

I hope this helps. If there is anything not clear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Your Sincerely

Hahn. W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 3

That response doesn't help at all. Why won't external screens turn on after the computer has gone into sleep mode?

Answer 4

Same issue here. Every time I close the lid, the login screen just won't load anymore when re-opening it. This needs to be fixed asap! I cannot be that I need to force shut down my laptop every time I 'forgot' to shut it down prior to closing the lid. This is f-ing ridiculous.

Answer 5

Since getting my Surface Laptop this past Aug, working it closed lid with KVM, it's been a little wonky. My Dell work computer has worked pretty seamlessly in that configuration.

My current issue... my legacy setup, I have (2) laptops, 1 Dell and 1 Surface Laptop hooked up to an AV Access KVM switch that supports a 2 laptop configuration, this wasn't a cheap KVM switch either. Original setup only had (1) 32" Samsung Curve monitor supporting the KVM, and I didn't have too many issues with that. Every now and then the surface would act a little wonky, but a majority of the time, it had no problem waking and showing the startup screen. Recently, I swapped the curve screen for (2) 24" Philips LEDs. Since doing that, once the surface sleeps I can't get it to wake without opening up the lid and disconnecting the laptop from the KVM. I'm not entirely sure how I get it to work again, if I had to guess, if I disconnect it from the KVM for several seconds, it does a reset of sorts and once I re-attach, I get both external screens to pop again, and then I'm able to close the lid on the surface.

I was on with MS tech support for close to an hour and they were unable to find a solution for me, other than throwing it back to the 3rd party AV Access KVM that I've been using this whole time. Simple trouble shooting tells me it has nothing to do with the KVM and everything to do with the Surface.

1. The surface was working fine with the KVM when I was only using 1 monitor.
2. Dell work computer still works seamlessly with 2 monitors on the same KVM.