Surface Pro 4 - Screen won't wake from sleep

While I'm glad to hesr things are working for you now, I don't think there's an actual hardware fix available yet.

This problem is most likely a very complex and pseudo-random interaction between various hardware, firmware, driver, and software components, and it appears that the problem can be triggered by a great many things, possibly including how you hold your mouth when you do the installation and configuration.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but based on my own experience, as well as that of others, I wouldn't break out the bubbly yet - from other reports, it seems likely that your system may develop sleeping problems.

Although I think this IS a hardware problem at its core, I'm convinced that that fundamental hardware flaws exists in ALL SP4s, even the newest ones.  Intel and Microsoft have built a house of cards in patch-around code and drivers that works sometimes, but not others, and there's no real understanding of why it doesn't work sometimes, or if there are other possible patches that can prevent the internal fighting.

BTW, I put my SP4 to sleep two nights ago with the power button, and when waking it up last night, it rebooted, and reliability monitor says that it was shutdown unexpectedly back at the time a put it to sleep.  (A 24+ hour gap is unprecedented for me, but I was on a non-business trip and didn't touch the computer yesterday.)  I definitely did NOT shut it down, nor do a forced power off.  It apparently killed itself, perhaps when I plugged it into the charger after putting it to sleep.

The Surface Pro 4 just flat don't work (nor does the Surface Book - there are many complaints for that one, too, it's just that we can't easily share our complaints due to the way MS Forums work).  I guess I could try swapping machines out again and again, but I'm on my seventh or eighth Surface 3 or 4 now, and I lose a full day every time I swap, so I'm not really interested in painful actions that are almost as likely to pay off as the lottery...

Thanks for that useful information.  The unit I just got looks new, although the first battery report I ran showed 7 charge cycles after I had only connected the charger to it twice.  Its serial number (0965....) is lower than my original device (1045.....) which makes me wonder about its age.  What are the first few digits of the serial number of your replacement?

Well... like I said, even after two full weeks of unprecedented success, I do still cringe a bit.  Yet clearly, something is very different, and I'm installing stuff the same way (mouth closed, teeth clenched). 

If this new unit does ever develop the problem, I'll post back and let people know.

original serial number from lot 1548 was 041075...

new number on currently working device is 103409...

New one shipped from Ontario, Canada.