Surface Book Taskbar Previews close too quickly (when battery status updates)

Anonymous
2016-02-02T02:09:06+00:00

Sometimes when I hover over a Taskbar Preview of an open window, it stays visible until I click it or move the cursor somewhere else. Sometimes it just disappears almost instantly, while I'm still trying to see what it shows. I've discovered what triggers the sudden closing:

As you can see in one of the lower reports, my charger is active. But every few seconds, the top line changes to "Not charging", one of the batteries changes to "in use", and then the top line says "Calculating", and then finally they all agree both batteries are charging. Every cycle of this closes any open Taskbar Previews!

It happens most frequently when the batteries are almost fully charged. Sometimes, probably depending on the CPU load, it keeps happening for hours when the batteries should be fully charged. Unplug the charger and it never happens (that I've noticed).

There are several threads, going back to Win7, describing similar issues with power management and Taskbar Preview. Like:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-desktop/taskbar-thumbnail-preview-disappear-too-quickly-to/b0aeb6e1-ba60-4caa-a09a-19ce4d3b3dc8

But those are with third-party power managers for other brands of notebook, with control settings I don't have. I have Microsoft's own flagship Surface Book - how can it be that this relatively ancient problem plagues the interaction between Microsoft hardware and software?

Has anyone found a solution other than running on battery?

Surface | Surface Book | Power and battery

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-02-22T18:26:38+00:00

    I've had almost the exact same problem - new Surface Pro 4 with Windows 10 (no dock or second battery). The taskbar thumbnail preview icons disappear extremely quickly despite continuing to hover my moues over them. The issue is semi intermittent in that I cant make it happen ALL the time. That said - it seems to happen a LOT if I'm plugged in and my battery is at 100%. If I'm on battery alone (not plugged in) or even if I'm plugged in and its charging (vs being at 100%) it seems to behave just fine for the most part. But once it hits 100% it starts acting up which in turns causes a huge impact to jumping between e-mails, IE windows, etc...

    From everything I've read it seems like it might be related to some underlying update/change in status grabbing focus away from the taskbar (e.g. behind the scenes going from charging to 100% and back or something...?).

    I've tried updating all drivers (including battery), tried my work IT support, spent time with Microsoft customer support, looked all around the web (its NOT registry entries / hover time). I wish there was some way to figure out what is making it happen, but I'm stumped.

    Anyone have any ideas!?! Please help!? :-) Thanks!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-02-22T20:28:06+00:00

    EnterpriseZ,

    Do you have the "Feb 17" updates yet? I can't get them until next week when I can use an unmetered connection. I'm hoping maybe they will improve this issue, but not enough to pay the overage charges to get them now.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-22T21:36:55+00:00

    Feb 17th updates didn't seem to do much for me.  Might have slowed down the drain a bit.  Very frustrated with the icons closing.  Trying to use multiple windows while docked is an exercise in how quickly you can move to click the window you want.  

    Can confirm removing the battery drivers completely fixes the problem.  Re-adding and the close down comes right back.

    Hoping this gets resolved quickly.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-02-23T23:03:56+00:00

    Same problem on 2 devices. Every time I'm plugged in and try hovering over the previews they just disappear way too fast. When I unplug, they work properly as they do on my other 10 computers. By the way, my battery meter works 100% perfect by the way, no changes or statuses or flashes or anything, just rock-steady at 100% "Fully Charged". So it's not an issue there.

    Summary of the problem in basic terms:

    • When plugged in, the taskbar icon previews disappear too quickly to be used (sp4 keyboard).

    This is true when clicked or when hovered, when stationary or moving, etc.

    This problem is very simple and very obvious. I have all the latest updates, but it occurred before I got them too. 

    I can create youtube videos showing it, but it's so silly simple that you're not going to get any more info than that. Pen hover works properly, so it seems to only be an issue with an attached keyboard (including the SP4 keyboard) or USB mouse.

    I suspect every Surface Pro 4 and every Surface Book in the world have this exact same problem. It's kind of a fundamental Windows feature to be able to switch windows with the task bar, but with my super quick reflexes I can sometimes nail it just fast enough before they disappear to get my work done (or resort to alt+tab or Win+tab).

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-02-24T06:08:32+00:00

    Burgesson - Your pen hover works? Mine is just as bad as the (Bluetooth) mouse or touch, always has been. Maybe the Surface Book is different?

    It is way worse than just Surface devices. Similar problems have been reported as far back as Win 7, with power management drivers for several brands of notebooks.

    [I have relatives named "Borjeson" - are you Swedish?]

    Loren

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