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

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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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-06-15T15:33:14+00:00

    After the May Patch-Tuesday updates, the problem seems to have become random lately. Sometimes, when I wake my Surface Pro from sleep, it behaves as expected; obeys the power plan I have configured. Other times, the bug takes over and puts it to bed after 2-3 minutes regardless of the power plan settings.

    Creating a new user Account had no effect; after a fresh restart then sleep cycle, it still randomly went to sleep after 2-3 minutes.

    Checked the Local Security Policy: Local Policies > Security Options > Interactive Logon: Machine Inactivity Limit and it was set to "Not Defined".

    Attempted resetting the group policies again (although it didn't work the first time I tried it when you suggested it on CrashCtrl) using the Visual Basic Script on sevenforums.com. Performed a sleep cycle and it seems to be staying awake so far...though can't guarantee if it was just a coincidence that it chose to obey the plans this time in the random cycle.

    Will update this post if it continues to obey the power plan for next week...

    ---EDIT---

    As I thought, the obedience was just temporary, it has began going to sleep every 2-3 minutes again :| Any other thoughtful suggestions on fixing this problem?

    Could Outlook 2013 be causing the problem? I'm using Outlook 2013 with 6 IMAP/SMTP accounts and 1 Exchange ActiveSync account (a Hotmail account). I have my old Laptop configured similarly, but with Outlook 2010 and Hotmail Connector instead, and none of this was ever experienced on the Laptop.

    --EDIT---

    Doesn't appear to be Outlook causing it. Restarted the Surface Pro, never opened Outlook, and it was obeying the powerplan. Then, after 2 screen turn offs (power plan is configured to turn off screen after 20 minutes), not sleep cycle, it then began going to sleep after 2-3 minutes :|

    Might just have to dump the factory image of the Surface Pro and start from fresh, cause these nonsense bugs it contains are just getting more and more frustrating.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-08-01T18:08:05+00:00

    I am also having the same issue.  I chatted with MS and got the typical answer...I would need to do a complete reset of the machine which is not a viable solution.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-08-05T09:11:48+00:00

    If you're actually going to reset it, don't bother using the factory image. I'd suggest you dump the entire factory image and install clean Windows 8 Pro by following this guide

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-25T00:57:21+00:00

    It appears this is actually a Windows 8 bug, nothing to do with email clients or any group/security policy. After dumping the factory image of my surface Pro, configuring some computer properties and installing just the following third party software (no Windows Updates installed yet), I then modified the balanced power plan to my needs and the problem returned :|

    • WinRAR, UltraISO, HJSplit, EaseUS Partition Master, NotePad++, plist Editor for Windows, Dexpot and BatteryBar Pro

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