Surface Pro keeps going to sleep every 1-2 minutes of being idle

Anonymous
2013-04-14T03:29:09+00:00

Love the idea behind the Surface Pro, but been having software and hardware issues lately. One of the software issues I've been experiencing is that when my Surface Pro first goes to sleep after a restart and I wake it up, it then begins going into sleep mode every like 1-2 minutes of being idle. I noticed this when reading some news on the internet.

I double checked my power options I have my current power plan (based off Balanced) set to put my Surface Pro to sleep (while plugged in) after 30 minutes of being idle!

Anyone know what's causing this problem? Is this another OS bug in Windows Ei8ht? I've avoided contacting the Surface support team cause every time I've contacted them about technical problems like this, their only solution is to perform a system refresh.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-09-12T04:37:53+00:00

go to desktop mode, go to screen saver, if it says blank, 1 minute, change it to none. it fixed mine SP3, Same issue.

Was this answer helpful?

50+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

66 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-04T20:51:52+00:00

    Hope that fixes this fundamental issue for you :)

    It sure did, nice one!

    Although my Surface Pro (now running Windows 8.1) is joined to my home domain, the account has no Exchange mailbox, and I have another 6 machines running a combination of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 with my domain account linked to my Microsoft account and only the Surface Pro experienced this horrid bug; so going down the "mail policy" path didn't help me at all. A real annoyance when you're using it in the kitchen. Every time you turn around to read something, damn thing would be asleep.

    Who would have thought that two hidden settings in power management would have their values changed to such a small number. Now that I know which registry keys allow modification of these settings from a GUI, a simple group policy preference can be used to open up those two settings on all my Windows 8/Windows 8.1 machines... just in case ;)

    Brilliant information, MrElectrifyer, thank you very much!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-05T23:01:56+00:00

    I have been experiencing the same issue ever since I got the windows 8.1 update.  I did everything suggested here and I have Microsoft Account and it's still powers off in 1-2 minutes ignoring my settings of 15 min.  Its really annoying, especially when I am in a meeting reading something and then it just goes blank on me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-15T02:46:14+00:00

    I had the exact same problem and just found the fix for it. Follow the instructions here and set the values to 0. Happy days!

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/246364-power-options-add-system-unattended-sleep-timeout.html

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-17T03:31:53+00:00

    17th January and this same ugly bug has raised its head again. It is making my surface pro almost impossible to use. I have tried everything in this forum and none of it worked. This needs to be fixed now. A critical bug like this should not be around for this long.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments