Surface Pro 7 shutting down randomly

Anonymous
2019-12-20T02:39:27+00:00

If the device stays idle for a minute it directly shuts down. I have checked all the sleep and power settings and that's not an issue. I see this was an issue in previous versions too. **Any fix?**There are some answers to this which might have worked for some (marked as answer), but definitely not for everyone. If you face it, I strongly recommend returning it as the stress during this whole process is ridiculous and not worth it.

UPDATE:

After going through returning and rebuying 4 surface pro 7 devices (thanks to Costco). I decided to ditch it. The worst part is that Costco has essentially banned me from buying any laptops from them, even though I repeatedly told them that the devices were having issues.  I just loved the device for its utility and I really wanted it to work out. Microsoft and Costco should beashamed** of this.

The first 3 devices were returned in <1-2 months. The 4th one stayed longest (3 months), not because it was perfect but because of the pandemic. I loved the device in general. I was hoping I would not have problems with the 4th device. I did not have the random shutdowns but I started having

  • sudden blue screens with faulty_hardware error
  • the display would just temporarily turn off even though the machine is working(happened during a zoom call, when they could still see and hear me but my screen was black)
  • The s creen had a 2cm square with distorted pixels (picture), out of the blue while I was working. It went back to normal automatically 
Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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Anonymous
2020-06-30T19:12:55+00:00

Hey Everyone,

A fix is now available for the unexpected device shutdown through Windows Update:

Surface Pro 7 June 2020 update, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4526363/surface-pro-7-update-history

Surface Laptop 3 with Intel processor June 2020 update, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4526150/surface-laptop-3-update-history

Thanks,

BryanH [MSFT]

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-04-13T23:08:10+00:00

    I try to post these workarounds every so often on the thread.  

    Option #4 has worked for many folks, including myself.   Consider giving it a try and let us know what happens:

    Option 1: Remove "Modern Standby" features and create a new (non-balanced) power plan:

    • Open the Registry Editor and navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
    • Change the "CsEnabled" value from '1' to '0'. Click OK and restart the Surface Pro.
    • Create a new power plan using one of the newly available plan options. (I chose "High performance" and didn't bother changing any of its settings.)

    Option 2: Change the display drivers to the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter:

    • Open the Device Manager.
    • Expand "Display Adapters".
    • Right-click on "Intel(R) Iris(R) Plus Graphics" and select "Update driver".
    • Choose "Browse my computer for driver software".
    • Choose "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer".
    • Select "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter" and click Next to install the drivers.

    Option 3: Update the display drivers to the latest version (from Intel, not Microsoft):

    • Download the latest display drivers from Intel as a ZIP file: https://downloadcenter.
    • Extract the files from the ZIP file to a local folder.
    • Open the Device Manager.
    • Expand "Display Adapters".
    • Right-click on "Intel(R) Iris(R) Plus Graphics" and select "Update driver".
    • Choose "Browse my computer for driver software".
    • Choose "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer".
    • Select the "Have Disk" button and browse to the folder containing the extracted files.
    • In the "Graphics" subfolder, select the file "iigd_dch.inf" and click OK.
    • Click Next to install the latest Iris Plus drivers. (This also installs the Intel Graphics Command Center application by default.)

    Before posting anything, I wanted to wait until I had time to test each of these "solutions" on multiple Surface Pro 7 devices. They all seemed to work, but obviously each comes with their own pros and cons:

    1. Pros: Stops the crashing...

    Cons: Requires registry changes and reboots. Removes quality of life features: quick wake from sleep and battery power settings. 2. Pros: Easiest to implement and fastest way to stop the crashing.

    Cons: Initially changes display settings (display scaling primarily). Removes color profile switching and possible GPU benefits. 3. Pros: Official drivers don't remove any features. Includes several months of potential bug fixes versus Microsoft's current version.

    Cons: Goes against official Microsoft recommendations. Unsure how Windows Update will handle driver updates in the future.

    Then, while I was still testing, user 'rfh2001' posted another possible solution:

    Option 4: Disable the "Panel Self Refresh" option in the Intel Graphics Command Center:

    • "I've fixed it on my SP7 i5/8G/256G by installing the Intel Graphics Command Center from the Microsoft Store, opening it, going to System>Power>Panel Self Refresh and turning it off for both "On Battery" and "Plugged In"."

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-04-14T07:53:04+00:00

    @CM_TX thx for keeping the information about these "dirty fixes" in the community.

    In the meantime, I would be happy to hear something from Microsoft here, because it's a real pity that so many people have to deal with this problem (the number of unreported cases is certainly much higher).

    I can't use the device productively, because every time I try to start e.g. a videoconference, my interface crashes sooner or later. But: It only happens when the power cable is plugged in (other people have noticed this behavior in the opposite direction).

    I will start to spread this topic a bit more in my social media channels. Fortunately I have enough followers to bring the topic to the public.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-04-14T13:47:49+00:00

    Thanks for consolidating the options.

    I am trying Option 4. Hoping that this works for me.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-04-14T13:59:30+00:00

    @CM_TX thx for keeping the information about these "dirty fixes" in the community.

    In the meantime, I would be happy to hear something from Microsoft here, because it's a real pity that so many people have to deal with this problem (the number of unreported cases is certainly much higher).

    I can't use the device productively, because every time I try to start e.g. a videoconference, my interface crashes sooner or later. But: It only happens when the power cable is plugged in (other people have noticed this behavior in the opposite direction).

    I will start to spread this topic a bit more in my social media channels. Fortunately I have enough followers to bring the topic to the public.

    Agreed, and please continue spreading the topic!  We need Microsoft to address this head-on and ASAP.

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