Surface Pro 4 - Screen won't wake from sleep

Dear all,

I just want to comment my situation with a hope that as the thread gets longer, Microsoft takes this issue more seriously.  Plus, I am using mine more like a tablet, so, I don't always have an access to an external keyboard to perform the handy key combinations.

I have the similar situations that has been happening once or twice a week since I got the unit (i5, 128) about 6 weeks ago.  When I tried to wake it up, screen turns on, but kept being blank. (Please note that I do not have the keyboard cover, so, the issue can happen without it.)  As others indicated, there was a very similar issue with my older Surface Pro (original) too...  I was hoping that by the fourth generation, Microsoft has figured out the most of the major issues, but I guess I was too naive. 

Another related issue is that when the Surface Pro 4 is updating, it just does what it needs without even telling us.  In the past 6 weeks, I noticed at least 4-5 times that the tablet rebooted by itself while I was not using it.  Also as others mentioned, when it is applying some of updates, you will face the same "unable to wake up" issue. I guess it can be fixed under Windows update settings, by setting not install without permission (and I thought I set that...), but nonetheless, it is very annoying.

With these issues and a very poor battery performance, I am very disappointed with SP4, especially for what we paid. At this point, I am ready to sell it at eBay or somewhere. 

BTW, If you happened to purchase SP4 in the past month or so from Best Buy, they accept return from purchases made from November 1st to the end of year until Jan 15th or so.  Lucky you.

My SP4 worked fine all day but a few minutes ago I had this problem again so I did some testing. I did not go through all 32 pages of replies here so hope it is not redundant info. Here's what I found:

I had setup a home group and shared folder with another laptop.  I am able to access the SP4's shared folders from the laptop as long as the SP4 is not in sleep mode.

I closed the SP4 keyboard lid and tested that the laptop could not access the shared SP4 folders as expected and that when I open the lid the laptop is able to access the folders.

But... today I closed the lid and the laptop could access the SP4 folders making me think it is not really in sleep mode. I tried to use the SP4 but the screen remained black. The Caps lock key on the keyboard lights up telling me the SP4 is not really sleeping even though the screen is black.

With the screen still black, I press the power button once and the laptop can not access the shared folders. Press the power button again and the laptop can access the SP4 folders.

So, this tells me that the SP4 is waking from SLEEP mode but the screen is not recovering.  Has anyone else seen this behavior?

The problem for me is very intermittent. I have used the Pro 4 all day today off and on and it has always woken up from sleep. Yesterday I experienced the problem once. I'm keeping mine but hoping for a fix soon. If the problem gets worse I'll try hibernate. Thanks for the tip on that workaround.

I was also told also to use hybernate. I don't have any problems waking up after that. I too was excited to have this product, but with all the problems I have had, I am not any more. I waited too long to return for refund. I will not be telling others about the Surface Pro 4.   

That's the sad reality here. This whole "Do this cumbersome procedure to "fix" the problem, and you're golden" is a terrible "solution". It would be like me taking a car into the workshop saying that my brakes had failed, and being told "Well, drive slower and your problem will be solved."

You remember when Microsoft mocked Apple when Steve Jobs said to iPhone 4 users to "hold the phone differently" when users had the poor reception issue (a result of covering a certain part of the outer casing of the phone). This "solution" offered here is pretty much shows the same arrogance and ignorance.

I really, really wanted to support Microsoft with this device, because in reality it *could* be awesome. But here's the more poignant reality: Microsoft needs to learn to do one thing before they can expect to be taken seriously -- Stop screwing up!