"Never sleep when plugged in" settings ignored since latest update (1709)

Question

This started right after the forced update to 1709 recently on my SP3. I am unable to prevent my tablet from going into sleep mode when plugged in due to inactivity. I rolled back 1709 due to this and general serious performance issues but this particular issue remains.

No matter what settings I change in Power Management. screen saver or elsewhere to prevent going into Sleep due to inactivity they are all ignored. Often I am rendering, copying data or some other activity that I don't want interrupted by the system going into sleep and not being able to prevent sleep mode from happening is getting annoying.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I am using the Surface Docking Station if those drivers might have something to do with it potentially. I am only finding instructions for using Windows Update which will put back the full 1709 update as well which I would like to avoid.

Any advice welcome.

Move from: [Windows / Windows 10 / Sleep and Power on/off]

Answer 1

Hello Stan,

Since you mentioned that you have done all the possible troubleshooting steps with your device and still could not prevent the machine from going into sleep, we would like you to try unplugging the device from the docking station and uninstalling the drivers.  See if after removing the Surface Dock, it would prevent your device from going into sleep.  If it still goes to sleep mode, then this would be with the Power Management settings of Windows.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Thank you for the response. Everything with my Surface and Docking Station worked as expected prior to the last update that was pushed out. I reversed that update due to performance issues and other issues but am guessing the drivers aren't reversed. (Firmware perhaps) With all the issues I am reading about I am concerned if I remove the current drivers I will need to re-install the most current and those I am seeing are having much more problems than what I am experiencing. 

When attempting to check the driver version I had from advice online I was unable to locate the Docking station in the Device Manager like some had outlined checking or using:

I believe it should be under System Devices correct?

The below and the above are the only Surface Devices I can find recognized (Except the Network adapter which is showing as well and in the docking station)

I attempted to find specific versions of earlier drivers for the docking station for my SP3 that I could re-install but did not have any success. I only found the Docking Station Updater which is also not working and not recognizing my docking station. Another tool it appears advised to avoid. I really don't want to remove my current drivers unless I know I will be able to do this separately from any Windows Update which I have now turned off due to last update issues. I will not run a Windows Update to attempt to fix this. It took me close to 5 hours to revert back from the last update and this is the remaining issue I am having. I will live with this last issue if needed vs doing the latest firmware upgrades due to issues everyone is experiencing with those.

Do you have any instructions you can provide to find the current docking station driver installed or what driver was in use prior to the last 1709 update push? That is all I would like to attempt to try first.

I will remove my SP3 from Dock and see if the issue continues or behaves differently and report back on that as well. I am just unable to do that immediately at the moment.

Thanks for the help!

Stan

Answer 3

We appreciate your feedback and time in getting back to us. You are right when you said that the Surface Dock Driver should appear under Firmware just as you have shown. Since the Surface Dock is not showing under that category, we would recommend you try to run the Surface Dock updater again and manage the Surface Dock firmware updates by following the steps found here: 

We'll keep an eye on your reply about the sleep behavior of your Surace Pro 3 when disconnected form the the docking station.

Thank you.

Answer 4

I have confirmed this is a docking station issue. If I remove my SP3 from the docking station it goes into the screen time out setting properly as defined in settings and does NOT go into sleep mode properly as defined in the settings. It appears to be an issue only when placed in the docking station and on power that it will go into sleep and require a login even though settings are defined for it not to do so. I have the SP3 Docking station BTW.

All other items on the docking station are working well, Wired Network adapter, audio port, USB 3 and USB 2 Ports and the Display Port. Although I have noticed a USB Drive seems to take longer than in the past to be open and be recognized when it had not been used for awhile but I can live with that.

As I mentioned, the Docking Station Updater is not recognizing my docking station so is unusable and I do not want it updating my Docking Station firmware any further with newer firmware even if it did. At least not until I see that others have made it past all the issues with a newer firmware update that is not having so many issues the current updates are. Having the SP3 going into sleep against settings is a minor issue most of the time compared to other issues I am hearing about in the latest firmware updates from others. 

Is there no way to revert back to previous drivers individually I had that were working just fine? We really should have those available to us somewhere.

I'm assuming rolling back the last update might have removed the docking station drivers as I did not do that myself directly.

Can we get access to individual previous docking station drivers? Has anyone had any luck finding those either on MS sites or elsewhere? 

Thank You!

SF