How to wake Surface 5 laptop after inactivity

Question

Surface 5 laptop connected to Thunderbolt 4 dock does not wake after inactivity. Users are required to disconnect and reconnect their laptops to the dock to wake up monitors. Keyboard and mouse are inactive. Dell monitor displays no connection found.

Answer 1

Hello, Daniel_MS.

Welcome to Microsoft Community!

I noticed that you are currently connecting your Surface Laptop 5 to your Dell monitor via Surface Thunderbolt 4.

You are unable to wake up the monitor screen directly from your mouse and keyboard after the device has gone to sleep. This appears to be a hardware debugging issue and I will assist you in investigating and share possible recommendations with you.

The main causes of this issue are:

1. outdated device drivers, or faulty drivers
2. compatibility issues that prevent it from waking up
3. hardware issues (e.g. faulty Surface Laptiop 5 or Surface Thunderbolt 4)

I would first recommend that you remove the Thunderbolt 4 and connect the Surface directly to the monitor to see if you experience a failure to wake while hibernating. This will directly help us determine if the problem stems from Thunderbolt 4.

Meanwhile, to troubleshoot the driver, you can manually get the relevant driver update. I am sharing the following download links with you:

Download Surface Laptop 5 from Official Microsoft Download Center

Download Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock Firmware and Drivers from Official Microsoft Download Center

The above steps usually work if the problem originates with the driver.

In the meantime, if you're looking for optimal connection compatibility, I should recommend that you consider the cable accessories released by Microsoft specifically for Surface devices. They offer better compatibility and security:

Accessories Designed for Surface

And for any possible hardware issues, such as if you are able to troubleshoot and discover that the problem is originating from the Surface Thunderbolt 4, you may want to consider contacting the Surface Technical Support team and obtaining direct hardware service.

Allow me to show you the process of creating a service order:

Open the Surface App (usually built into your Surface device, or you can download it from the Microsoft Store if you don't have one) and follow the procedure below:

1. Click "Help and Support" and then click "Get Help".
2. Briefly describe your problem in the text box, such as "Surface won't wake up the display when connected to Thunderbolt 4", and then press Enter.
3. Click "Contact Support" at the bottom.
4. Select "Surface Accessories" and click "Confirm".
5. You will see "Chat support" and "Phone support" options, please contact them during working hours, you will get one-to-one support services.

These are the possibilities I can share with you at this time.

If you have any new findings, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Best Regards.

Leo.L - Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Thank you for the response. Just to clarify I am working for a City in California which uses Microsoft laptops for our computer replacements. This is not just one singular instance this is happening to almost all Surface 5 laptops connected to the Thurnderbolt 4 docks. We have updated all drivers for the laptops and docks, have run the Surface registry dock script and replaced cables for a few of the workstations. Cables we are purchasing are now Cable Matters found on the compatible cables list.