Surface Pro 4 - Screen won't wake from sleep

I have 14 Surface pro's that I am setting up (with a potential order of 400+)

The users on the trial have reported two main issues.  

1.  Blank screen and keyboard lit when device left alone for a time (an hour?) 

     The only fix is to press and hold the power button.  This powers the device off loosing all open apps etc.. 

**2.**Blank screen on system resume after surface logo.  Machine works and can be logged in blind, then display works.

     Fixes are: Windows & P 4 times and leave for 15 secons

                     Control, Windows, Shift B 

                     Tilt screen to portrait and back.

I have problem 2. on Dell XPS 13's as well.

The call is logged with MS Software Assurance (Enterprise support)

I am testing using both the Win 10 Pro image that came with the devices and my own Win 10 Enterprise image.

All have latest updates etc..

The first  suggestion from MS is below:

1.) Right Click on Start and Select System.

2.) Click on Advanced System Settings

3.) Click on Settings under Performance.

4.) Click on the Advanced Tab and then click on change under virtual memory.

5.) Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives and then select No paging file.

6.) Click on Set< Yes< OK< OK< OK and reboot

7.) After the reboot, Right Click on Start and Select System.

8.) Click on Advanced System Settings

9.) Click on Settings under Performance.

10.) Click on the Advanced Tab and then click on change under virtual memory.

11.) Put a check mark on Automatically manage paging file size for all drives< OK< Apply< OK and reboot the device

I also ran the Surface Pro troubleshooter which installed the Intel Watchdog Timer Driver.

This is interesting as it looks for non responsive hardware then performs one of a predefined set of actions to resolve (these are dependent on the system architecture)

Overview from wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchdog\_timer 

Will post any updates on the call and testing as it occurs.

Glenn

OK, I spoke too soon.  With the .218 Windows update, (but not the Intel driver updates), mine woke and was usable with OneNote several times this morning (never sleeping more than about 10 minutes), but after that appointment, it locked up hard again when I tried to wake it at the next one (about 45-60 minutes later), requiring a forced shutdown/reboot again.

I just got the new Intel driver updates, so we'll see if that helps anything, but I've been disappointed so many times now that I really don't expect this thing to ever work.

BTW, after mine wedged again, I stopped by the Microsoft Store, and although they don't really admit it, it's quite clear that this problem is both well-known and reasonably widespread.  Of course, I got the usual, "Have you reloaded/reset/reinstalled/etc.?" as the second response, after, "You must not have all the updates..."   Later, I was told by one of the techs there (and they really do have some excellent people), that there are really only two things they know about an actual fix for this problem: 

First, The only way they've ever successfully fixed this (and then only sometimes) is to bulldoze everything, start clean and do a complete reinstall from a NON-Surface Win10 image/disk (bad drivers, etc. are definitely being loaded on some Surfaces in their factory images), and then applying a special SP4/SB driver pack that they have at the store on top of that.  I gather some of these drivers may not be the ones pushed through Windows Update, but they are most "probably" the ones that are coming through now, since they've had them at the stores for a little bit. From what they said, this *sometimes* works, but it's far from certain.

Second, they said there are reports that the wake problem may actually be fixed in the latest Insider ring release (I don't know which one, but could find out...), so maybe we won't be waiting too much longer - it could easily be another several weeks before we see those fixes, though, and it's possible these fixes could get tangled up in all the new stuff they're throwing into the "anniversary" release in another month or two.

Although my 2nd SP4 has remained in as virgin a state as possible so far, I'm considering trying the Insider ring - it does (reportedly) fix the sleep problem, at the cost of lots of other brokenness and instability.  I may try it before the bulldoze-and-start-over method though, as there's little to lose once I'm committed to going through another two days of that **** again.

Here's hoping for a quick and speedy solution that actually lets this thing work and be used as advertised.

It doesn't look like we're out of the woods yet, although we may have crossed that threshold where waking is now only roughly as risky as Russian Roulette, which is actually a huge improvement...

Glenn,

So essentially what they have instructed you to do is build a new pagefile.  IMO this sounds like a complete waste of time when dealing with the Black Screen From Sleep(BSFS) issue.  It also tells me that Microsoft support is clueless when it comes to resolving this issue.  If this approach were correct it would have worked for anyone doing a rebuild or recovery which also creates a new pagefile.  A review of many of the posts on this thread strongly suggests that when they recovered or reinstalled the OS the BSFS persisted.  The evidence keeps mounting that this is a hardware issue with some SP4s, perhaps tied to certain bad production lots and that Microsoft does not want to admit to this fact and bear the expense to replace or refund many units.  A bad decision on their part if so but highly likely considering their total silence on this issue.

If only Microsoft would comment officially on this issue; but, unfortunately, they remain silent which speaks volumes.

Steve

I'm in the slow ring on windows insider program, and have installed the preview build. It hasn't fixed the sleep problem on my device. I'm beginning to think it's hardware related since some report this sleep problem does not occur.