Surface Pro 4 - Screen won't wake from sleep

Anonymous
2015-10-27T05:32:42+00:00

I received my Surface Pro 4 today and it worked fine. I put it on "sleep" for awhile, came back and turned it on. Once again it worked fine. I made an error and instead of putting it on "sleep" I  hit the power button to turn it off when I finished. Now it won't come on at all. The screen stays dark. If I push the power button I can see lights under the keyboard keys, then if I hit the power switch again they go off. But nothing happens to the screen no matter what I do. Has anyone else suffered from this?

Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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Anonymous
2016-08-19T19:27:34+00:00

It works fine for me after the Anniversary Update to Windows 10 Pro (Version 1607). It no longer goes into a coma.

I just traveled all week. Put my Surface Pro 4 (SP4) to sleep 10 to 20 times each day, and currently my task manager shows the up time to be 7:21:35:21 - 7 days! It is actually working the way I expected it to when I bought it!

It was such a relief to not be scared to put it to sleep during meeting breaks to save battery when working with my Pen and OneNote. For the past 7 months I've had to have it on power when in meetings so that it wouldn't go into a coma. That was always so embarrassing.

You can update to the latest version of Windows 10 by opening Settings > Update & security > Windows Update, and selecting Check for updates.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-12-16T04:15:40+00:00

    My brand new Surface 4 (i7/16/500) suffers from this problem. It is truly sad. I'm a software developer and usually build my own machines. I was captivated by the Surface 4, so I spent the money. Except for this issue, I *am* happy with my device. But I have to say that the machines I build myself have never exhibited this issue. Which highlights how insane it is that Microsoft is having this problem when they designed the PC and the OS!

    Unfortunately, word is spreading. My niece was impressed with my SP4, said was going to get herself one for XMas. After I showed her this problem, she decided not to get one.  Also, I'm not sure I would recommend it at this time. Hard to pay a premium price for a device with obvious flaws.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-16T04:33:00+00:00

    I am a bit curious if this problem exists in every surface pro 4 device or if it only happens randomly in some of them. 

    If every surface pro 4 has this problem and it is such easy to reproduce， why it took so long for Microsoft to fix it..

    As an engineer, I also debug my own products everyday, I know the most difficult part in software or hardware engineering is to find a problem. Once you find the it, fixing it is not a hard thing to do. It may take some time, but should not be several months for a huge company like Microsoft with so many top engineers in the world.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-16T04:57:55+00:00

    Hi all,

      I've got an SP4 and I've been having this problem as well. I've come to terms with it in the following two ways.

      First, when I'm not traveling, my SP4 is mostly home. I just leave it charging, and pull it off the charger when I want to use it. I have issues with the screen not waking up properly when I open it up. Two things I've noticed: sometimes it takes two seconds (or 3) for the screen to come on. When the screen doesn't come on, then I hit WindowsKey-P twice (changes what display is getting used) and that always makes it come on. If I don't have a keyboard when this happens, then I have to attach it.

      When I travel I have the trouble that sometimes the SP4 just burns battery life when it is "asleep". In that case, I always set the power buttons, lid closed, etc. to hibernate. That way I have some assurance that when I open my SP4 half way over the Atlantic, I can use it.

      Now that I know the Win-P trick, I've not had to restart my SP4 because the screen is dark.

      I also own a SP3. The battery life, despite a year of age and heavy use, is definitely better on the SP3. MS has some real work to do yet. However, I really like the machine, and now that I'm at peace with the current flaws, I'm actually quite happy. I am definitely eager to get the new version of drivers, etc., so I don't have to do this each month before I travel!

      Obviously, from this thread, your mileage will vary. A lot!

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-16T05:29:16+00:00

    That's a great find.  I'll try the WindowsKey-P twice trick next time it happens.

    I recently discovered that if I open the lid and the screen is black but the keyboard is lit up, I simply close the lid and wait 10 seconds.  When I open the lid it wakes up right away.  I'm curious if others have luck doing this.

    Regarding the question above,

    Are all surface pro users having the black screen issue? The answer is no. I have a friend that has not had the issue after the recent updates, however, he also has the fingerprint reader keyboard, so I'm not sure if that is the reason or not.

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