Surface Pro 4 - Screen won't wake from sleep

I have also installed the 2/17 update manually and the problem still remains.

If the device is put to sleep or the 'sleep' button is pressed, when you try to wake it up you get the surface logo and then a black screen. Resetting it works every time but everytime it goes to sleep it has to be reset.

I have been researching and following this issue here and in many other threads for quite a time in hope of a solution. Now instead of lurking I wish to make my problem known to the world since the manufacturer doesn't seem to be providing much of support.

Since buying a Surface 4 i5 256GB, I have had this issue since my the very first hour of the very first day. At first I though I'd just deal with the issue but after just a day I realized the extent of this issue. It seems as every time I close the keyboard to the screen it would sleep and this was fine, but after about 30 minutes reopening wouldn't wake the device, pressing the power button did not do anything and the device already seemed awake as the keyboard was already on. After performing a hard reset and loosing my work I thought oh well this will only probably happen once more, WRONG. This happens EVERY TIME, like a great chef I've posted my recipe for disaster below.

I'm now on the latest updates and the issue is still occurring, I have tried pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete when the device has a black screen but does not work, I have tried pressing Windows+P, this does not work either, the only TEMPORARY solution that I have found is what everyone already knows, hold the power button down. Other things I have tried, removing the keyboard, reset Windows back to factory defaults, updating the firmware manually via MSI, drinking a glass of milk while preforming a headstand.

I have since just disabled the "sleep" function completely by choosing hibernate for all of the power options, this allows me to mostly use my surface but I still encounter the occasional lighted keyboard where my surface wont power up.

I have this thing down to a science now, here is how to replicate with your "brand new out of the box" surface; turn your device on, pretend to do some work, close the keyboard, wait 30 minutes, open the keyboard(lights on keyboard will come on), touch the screen (nothing happens), press the power button (nothing happens), close and reopen the keyboard (nothing happens), press power button down for 30 seconds (loose everything currently working on), after a hard reset you will loose everything you were working on..

I didn't think I would need to say this but, YOU NEED A SOLUTION!!

For those of us still watching this thread, this is going take a while (1079 words to be exact) so grab a cold or hot beverage at your discretion and get comfortable... as I write this from my Surface which hopefully will not go to sleep.

This thread is one my guilty pleasures.  At first I just read and posted my problem, and I began to get tired of the “someone has commented on a post you are following…” emails, but now they are a fresh (and frequent) break from my day.  In my opinion, there are four main types of posters to this thread:  (1) the newbies who add they too are having sleep problems, (2) the haters who – with some justification – say to just buy an iPad, (3) the dreamers who think they have found the Ctrl-Alt-(something) solution that none of us knew about, and (4) the faithful who believe that Microsoft is out there listening to our pleas for help.  I guess I am in the last category.

Let me say that I love my Surface Pro4, and I have no intention of returning it.  It is a great device in almost every aspect save some critical flaws.  Next, to the few unbelievers still out there in the community, there is definitely a systemic problem with the Surface Pro, and it is not limited to a few people who just do not know what they are doing as some people seem to suggest.  I think I am like many people in this thread in that I am competent PC user and wanted a powerful, and admittedly cool, tool that would help me be more productive.  If I wanted a simple device to surf the net, watch videos, and read email, I would have purchased one of the many cheaper alternatives. 

Like I said, I have no intention of returning my Surface Pro.  Part of that is because I did not pay a dime for it.  I purchased mine and literally every accessory Microsoft makes including two docking stations with government funds.  I was not issued it, rather I specifically sought it out and had to specifically request and justify it.  As a scientist the Surface Pro is extremely useful.  It is powerful while being extremely portable and runs everything and anything I would want.  I love my iPad as well and I know there are scientists out there who swear by their Macs, but the overwhelming majority of software I use would never function on a Mac.  So I have my Surface Pro and it does 94% of what I want.

So what is the problem?  Well, that 6% (and admittedly a gross underestimate) is very important and even more importantly Microsoft seems content to do nothing about it.  I will not jump on the bash Microsoft bandwagon, but when the only offered vendor provided solution is to perform a reboot, that is really not acceptable.  This would be equivalent to me telling my students “well, just fail the first test and then take the makeup to try and get some credit back”.  (To be honest, I do not let my student take makeups to make up for poor performance, but you get the idea).

So what do we do now?  I am not looking for a refund, rebate, replacement, or a re-anything.  I really only want two things:  (1) Microsoft to acknowledge that there is a real problem that at least some users are having and (2) to hopefully get my Surface Pro functioning the way it should.  It seems less and less likely that either of these are ever going to happen.  At the risk of great hyperbole and criticism by 12th grade English teachers everywhere when I do not attempt to cite this correctly, I would recommend the following quote “Evil prevails when good men fail to act.”  Bottom line, if Microsoft chooses to do nothing, we must do something.

Twenty minutes in and now with an empty glass, I get a little weary and offer the following “out of the box” courses of action or ideas:

•  What does the NFL think about this?  Every football game I watch I see QBs everywhere looking at their Surface Pros as if they were watching their fantasy stats stream live.  I wonder if Drew Brees is going to be happy when he comes back to the bench and has to “hard reboot” his surface to see the replay of that interception (sorry Drew, I know that is a cheap shot).  I wonder if Microsoft would respond to the juggernaut that is Goodell?
•  What does Apple think about this?  Remember the good old Apple vs. PC commercials with Justin Long?  Imagine recreating those commercials where Justin opens up his brand new brilliant iPad Pro and that geeky PC guy, who nobody knows, has to reboot his Surface Pro after he opens it up.  Even a knockoff youtube video of this is likely to go viral (sorry I am really too old to use the word viral in that context).
•  Litigation.  “Oh great, he is one of those guys…”  No, I am not even though I do love a good Law and Order episode.  It has been mentioned before, and although this is way out of my lane, this does seem to be exactly what class action is meant for.
•  Break the internet with our reviews!  Maybe we can get Kim (you know which one I mean) to do another photo where she is holding a Surface Pro in a convenient place, and place that photo somewhere in this thread.  Ok, maybe that is a little too much but maybe at least tons of appropriately critical reviews placed all over Amazon and wherever other people go to read reviews would be of value.

Now that I got that off my chest and refreshed my beverage, I am more than willing to spend some personal energy and time to get resolution to this issue.  Nobody likes to post their names or emails in threads like this anymore, but if anyone has a real way for us to coordinate and try to really do something about this, I am in.  Like I said, I do not want money, a refund, or a replacement.  For now I will settle for post from a user with Microsoft (or even better, Gates) in their title.  Do not worry, I am not holding my breath – but I am watching…

R/Brad

What irritates me the most is Microsoft just ignoring this thread on their own help forum. I could live with the sleep issue if MS would just admit they have a problem, apologized, and assured us they are working on it. Instead, they mark this thread as "Answered" and ignore us. Why? It's pretty obvious. The press has completely ignored us as well. MS tells them it's fixed, and every journalist just accepts it? Or, is it possible that MS is just buying enough advertising that everyone is happy to ignore the issue? Being a little familiar with how magazines work, I'd have to guess that's the real reason the press is ignoring this. 

I know Microsoft employees are on this forum, they still answer unrelated threads. Microsoft clearly knows how unhappy we are, but if they ignore us, the press will too, and they can still sell SP4s to the unknowing masses. In the short term, that's probably the most profitable strategy. Long term though, I don't understand why they are so willing to completely alienate their best customers. Are they really quite that stupid? I guess we all enable this behavior, as we have stayed Windows users for years in spite of the fact that Microsoft NEVER releases a stable OS on their first release. Vista was so bad that they had to name vista.1 Windows 7. Same with Windows 8 and 10. It should have been no surprise that the SP4 was released with as many problems as it has. The SP4 shows great promise, but when will it be a reliable device for the majority of it's users? I believed MS in December when they said they were going to fix it, now I really don't. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. But they have said NOTHING and given ZERO reassurances since the failed 2-17 update. 

I should have returned this POS in December when I still could. Instead I believed MS and now I'm stuck. I urge everyone--who still can--to return the SP4 for a refund. I am convinced that MS will only fix it's problems if they get hit hard in the pocket book.  I am so not a litigious person, but if there has ever been righteous cause for a class action lawsuit, this is it.