Surface Pro 4. I would't buy again for business

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#1529451 10-Apr-2016 13:01

dafman:

JayADee:

I have had two black screens on boot requiring a hard restart after shutdown just recently (one of those it looks like it didn't shut down correctly as it was both hot and the camera light was on when I opened the cover when I got home though the screen was black).

Experienced this a couple of times. Perform a shut down and put in bag. On removing several hours later, machine is very hot (so still powered on) but black screen - can't wake it from sleep and it won't respond to power on. Hard reset required to get back on track.

With the Surface Pro 4 - long press of the power button while pressing volume up is the friend you get to know, again, and again, and again ....

Memo to Microsoft. When designing the Surface Pro 5, the addition of a LED power indicator light would be really really really useful!

paulkristensen

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#1529846 11-Apr-2016 09:13

Hi all,

Just as a quick introduction, I’m a technical expert within Microsoft NZ and thought that following might be of assistance. The latest driver and firmware updates to the Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 4 have made improvements across the items raises in this tread.

The ‘Windows Update’ feature ensures your device are continuously up to date though there are scenarios where firewalls and WSUS prevent these to be installed.

If you are continue experiencing issues, I recommend to manually install following drivers which includes updates to the firmware.

Surface Pro 3 Drivers: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=38826 (published 18/03/2016)

: Due to I'm new to Geekzone I might not be able to post links so alternatively search for Surface Pro 3 drivers on Bing.com

- SurfacePro3_Win10_160128_2.msi (For windows 10)

- SurfacePro3_Win8x_160128_3.msi (For Windows 8/8.1)

Surface Pro 4 drivers: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49498 (published 22/02/2016)

: Due to I'm new to Geekzone I might not be able to post links so alternatively search for Surface Pro 4 drivers on Bing.com

- SurfacePro4_Win10_160401_1.msi

For the Display Dock, let me source some details and I’ll add them here.

Best regards,

Paul

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#1529847 11-Apr-2016 09:15

Hi Paul

I had a SP4 but returned it due to really bad backlight bleed. A quick search online yields plenty of similar experiences. Any idea whether this is now rectified?

gehenna

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#1529951 11-Apr-2016 10:45

I bought a Surface Book last week. Day 1 everything was fine, applied Windows Updates that night, camera broke and Windows Hello went away. Next day I did some digging and found the Camera Windows Hello driver had reverted to a previous version and I had to search for and locate the new driver and reapply it for Windows Hello and regular camera functionality to come back to normal.

Pretty annoying, and would throw general users for a 6.

Otherwise loving it.

JayADee

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#1529981 11-Apr-2016 11:32

Hi Paul,

I've already tried re-installing the drivers, it didn't help.

If someone would just send me a working Surface Pro 4 i5 256/8 I would be eternally grateful as I really do love the device otherwise but to have tried two now and 4 pens and still not have a working pen/device is beyond frustrating and having to unencrypt and wipe this one, pick up another one and start all over again and not even be sure that ANY of them actually work is already giving me a headache.

Send me a new working one, I'll wipe this one and give it back!

Edit: ok so just downloaded the latest driver zip file and uninstalled/reinstalled drivers and restarted. I'll play with it after lunch and see how it goes.

dafman

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#1530106 11-Apr-2016 15:38

paulkristensen:

Hi all,

Just as a quick introduction, I’m a technical expert within Microsoft NZ and thought that following might be of assistance. The latest driver and firmware updates to the Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 4 have made improvements across the items raises in this tread.

The ‘Windows Update’ feature ensures your device are continuously up to date though there are scenarios where firewalls and WSUS prevent these to be installed.

If you are continue experiencing issues, I recommend to manually install following drivers which includes updates to the firmware.

Surface Pro 3 Drivers: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=38826 (published 18/03/2016)

: Due to I'm new to Geekzone I might not be able to post links so alternatively search for Surface Pro 3 drivers on Bing.com

-          SurfacePro3_Win10_160128_2.msi (For windows 10)

-          SurfacePro3_Win8x_160128_3.msi (For Windows 8/8.1)

Surface Pro 4 drivers: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49498 (published 22/02/2016)

: Due to I'm new to Geekzone I might not be able to post links so alternatively search for Surface Pro 4 drivers on Bing.com

-          SurfacePro4_Win10_160401_1.msi

For the Display Dock, let me source some details and I’ll add them here.

Best regards,

Paul

Thanks Paul - I installed the msi file which prompted for a restart. However, I haven't noticed that it's doing anything since the restart?

So, how's today been ....

1. When I arrived at work today, on initial boot my screens were not working - restart required - "windows has encountered problems ...." after which the screens were ok.

2. Today my pc has gone into sleep mode twice. On both occasions, pc would not wake from sleep unless I unplugged the dock. Once unplugged, the SP4 internal screen came to life, but the external screens didn't - requiring a re-boot , then "windows has encountered problems ...." before screens came back on. My work colleague had exactly the same problem with machine not waking from sleep.

3. After the restarting my PC following the msi install, wifi was not working, so I had to re-boot to get this - and I got the usual "windows has encountered problems ...."

So, it's 3.32pm on Monday and five re-boots later to keep PC and screens functional. If I could unwind our SP experiment and go back to previous devices, I would.

And it's definitely the SP4's and new docks that are the core problem. The older SP3's with old docks are much more robust.

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surfisup1000

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#1530119 11-Apr-2016 16:16

I've gone off the idea of surface pro tablets . Due to the keyboard covers , and excess screen weight.

A more traditional laptop connects better to the screen and the weight is in the keyboard rather than the screen.

The perfect machine in my view would be the slim macbook with windows keyboard and windows.

In saying that, i just ordered a lenovo x1 gen 4 with 512gb samsung nvme ssd. Should be insanely good. I wanted the oled screen but it seems they only do that for the x1 yoga.

gehenna

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#1530140 11-Apr-2016 17:33

surfisup1000:

I've gone off the idea of surface pro tablets . Due to the keyboard covers , and excess screen weight.

A more traditional laptop connects better to the screen and the weight is in the keyboard rather than the screen.

Check out the Surface Book if that's the case. It's so good and best of both worlds!

MackinNZ

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#1530141 11-Apr-2016 17:43

gehenna:

surfisup1000:

I've gone off the idea of surface pro tablets . Due to the keyboard covers , and excess screen weight.

A more traditional laptop connects better to the screen and the weight is in the keyboard rather than the screen.

Check out the Surface Book if that's the case. It's so good and best of both worlds!

However it still uses the same useless dock as the Surface Pro

gehenna

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#1530210 11-Apr-2016 20:27

MackinNZ:

However it still uses the same useless dock as the Surface Pro

I don't use a dock?

gzt

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#1530217 11-Apr-2016 20:37

You would need a dock for dual ext dvi monitors on surface book. Only one DP port. But if the dock is the source of the problem maybe there is some possibility of using a better 3rd party dock.

Btw just noticed MS offer a free adaptor for SP4 to use the SP3 dock. Old style Sp3 dock has only one DP port so does not help this topic.

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gzt

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#1530223 11-Apr-2016 20:49

Maybe something like this direct to dual DVI instead of adaptors:

http://m.belkin.com/us/p/P-B2B122/

But it's obviously a no-win. Retain investment in old technology or invest in new old technology ; (.

Then again maybe there is something cheap and horrible direct to DVI that does the job.

gehenna

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#1530274 11-Apr-2016 21:40

Meh, my MacBook Pro is for the external monitors. My Surface Book is for carrying with me to meetings for notes and other worky stuff.

JamesL

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#1530320 11-Apr-2016 22:35

you're all doing it wrong..

you need to set the region to US and it fixes everything /s

nathan

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#1530376 12-Apr-2016 05:47

gzt: Maybe something like this direct to dual DVI instead of adaptors:

http://m.belkin.com/us/p/P-B2B122/

But it's obviously a no-win. Retain investment in old technology or invest in new old technology ; (.

Then again maybe there is something cheap and horrible direct to DVI that does the job.

this will work, but understand it is suboptimal as you're pushing video over USB, using CPU instead of GPU, having to load 3rd party DisplayLink drivers into Windows etc

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