Early report: Mixed results for me after this update - an improvement, for sure, but no where near what's required for a "fix". I may have to look at swapping hardware, if that truly helps. It's not *just* software/firmware, that's for sure (assuming all
of that is "fixed", which I kind of doubt...)
On the plus-side, my SP4 has not (yet?) wedged hard (requiring forced power-off/reboot) on waking after this latest update, and I've been using it as I wished I could (mixed PC/tablet use, so frequent sleeping and waking at irregular intervals. It even
seems to have prayer of waking with the Type Cover connected. Bloody amazing - it now wakes more often than it fails - we'll see how it holds up. This is definitely better than it's been since before the 2/17 updates. I've gone back to
the default power policies and even turned Windows Hello back on. A huge improvement, but not "fixed" yet.
On the minus side, the upgrade left my SP4 unable to use its touchscreen and pen. This seemed to clear itself after another extra reboot cycle, but it's still pretty discomforting that it seemed to both fail and start working again for no apparent reason.
(All updates appear to have installed correctly the first time through.)
It also seems to be (even more) easily confused about what orientation the screen should be in - it took a minute of two of futzing earlier today to convince it that it should be using landscape mode, even though the keyboard was attached and open (and not
folded back, of course...) This took plenty long enough to keep from "just opening and using it" as designed.
Worse, the Hot Bag problem is back - I hadn't seen this in a long time (and I never suffered from it as badly as some), but I definitely put my SP4 to sleep (with the power button) after leaving a meeting this afternoon and after a 45-minute
drive back, it was cooking itself in its sleeve. It wasn't the hottest I've seen (I could still touch and hold it), but it was really, really warm. The machine definitely appeared to be "asleep" while cooking itself (despite the sleepstudy below) - I plugged
it into the dock, and had to press the power button to wake it up (shouldn't docking just wake automatically?) Once awakened, it seemed to drop back into more normal power usage, with the fan quickly dropping off.
In addition, battery life is putrid - I was on pace for only about 4 hours this morning (mostly browsing/reading over WiFi, with a little light OneNote and Sketchbook Pro). I'm coming to think is as much as an SP4 is capable of. (My SP3 was usually good
for about 9 hours of real-world use.)
So overall, I have to say that although this is the first set of updates I've seen that has made
any substantial progress in a positive direction, it is very clearly NOT NEARLY enough to qualify as a fix (to deliver the functionality promised and advertised.) Still, I welcome any forward progress, it just needs to continue and speed up.
I'm also quite concerned about the recurrence of the Hot Bag problem, which hadn't happened for me in a long time before today. A machine that gets as hot as mine was a few months ago would be truly approaching fire hazard level - there had to be some kind
of permanent damage (to battery lifespan, if nothing else). I suppose I'll quit using the sleeve to give it at least some chance of cooling itself - it may prevent a fatally destructive meltdown, anyway.
The image below shows the Hot Bag "failure to sleep" in sleepstudy, as well as two other wake wedgies in the last couple of days. Note that unlike the earlier failures, this last one was *after* the 5/24 updates and a few reboots. (I didn't work yesterday,
as my Mom was having surgery, but it wedged when I tried to wake it up last evening. I stayed plugged in almost all of the previous day (as usual for the world's thinnest desktop PC), except for an evening meeting where I took notes in OneNote and then suffered
yet another wakefail. The system *should* have been on (either awake or asleep) the entire time, so the white bands should not be there...)
