Isolated reports of new Surface Pro suddenly going into sleep leave some users frustrated

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

There's a new, seemingly random bug affecting some new Surface Pro owners. Here is what we know so far.

Surface Pro
Surface Pro

Microsoft's recent release of the new Surface Pro (2017) and Surface Laptop have mostly gone without controversy, but there is one issue that a select few Surface Pro users are experiencing (and I've seen myself).

When actively using the Surface Pro the device abruptly turns off, or rather, it goes to "sleep" or "hibernate" mode. For most users, merely hitting the power button resumes the Surface Pro leaving where you left off, but for some others, they may lose some work.

The incident seems only to be affecting a few users as the Microsoft support forum thread (opens in new tab) is just two pages deep. Likewise, on Reddit and the Windows Central Surface Pro support forum there are only a handful of users reporting the problem.

I have seen the bug happen twice over the last two weeks and it is jarring since there is no warning.

There is no guidance for now from Microsoft. Reinstalling devices drivers does not seem to alleviate the problem, although one user did report that doing a factory reset (Settings > Update & security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Remove everything) did do the trick. However, that is a very extreme solution as it will wipe all your apps, settings, photos, and documents.

Microsoft Support Thread: Surface Pro 2017 turning off randomly (opens in new tab)

For now, Microsoft is investigating. Anyone with the problem should jump into the official Microsoft support forum and to assist Microsoft to help better understand what is happening. Surface Pro users can expect an initial bug fix patch in the coming weeks as Microsoft collects information from consumers now that the device is in the wild. The good news is this is the only problem I have heard about regarding Surface Pro, and even then, it seems very limited.

Luckily, so far, no serious issues with Surface Laptop are widely reported.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

29 Comments
  • Happened to me once
  • Maybe it has narcolepsy? =P
  • I'm going to blame this on Intel having DRIVERS THAT STILL DON'T SUPPORT RS2 even today. Hell, they officially released drivers with RS1 support last month I think.
  • Its nice they have some serious competition from Qualcomm now. Intel's a great company but even they can be annoying sometimes.
  • Also experienced this. It is very rare, so hard to reproduce. Turned off the last standby option, something about "sensing that I am away". Don't know if it helps, but looks good so far. I just got my device here in Germany, without any of the accessories available yet, so I can't use the device that much.
  • Is this established to be a bug with the Surface Pro, or is it the Dynamic Lock? I am occasionally experiencing a similar issue for the simple reason that my Surface 3 (non-Pro) and my phone (Lumia 640) for whatever reason lose the Bluetooth connection. It's frustrating, but no deal breaker.
  • Could be both in the sense something is not tuned right with how Dynamic Lock is working. TBF though, I don't have Dynamic Lock enabled, but it does seem like something related to presence detection/power modes. I have since heard a few others saying they have experienced this on non-Surface devices, but it seems more prominent on new Surface Pro. I've never seen it on any of my PCs (and I have a lot) just Surface Pro.
  • I've had issues with dynamic lock on my desktop PC but, in those cases, the machine locks without going to sleep.  If the machine actually sleeps in these new cases then I'm not sure that it could be dynamic lock.
  • As far as Surface launches go, this one has been very, very smooth. Drivers and firmware appear to be mostly on point.
  • They need to narrow down the specific circumstances in builds and usage...
  • Happened a couple of times in 3 days to me. Am also having a replacement sent out for an issue with the backlight which is creating a dark line about an inch from the bottom of the device.
  • I should add that everything else is perfect with this SP and absolutely loving it otherwise!
  • It happened to me too... but not on a surface ^^
  • This happened to me about 2 weeks ago with my SP3, right in the middle of a meeting when I had like 70% battery! Good to know it's not a one off and being worked on.
  • hasn't happened to me yet (knock on alcantara)
  • Its started happening on my pro 3 over the last few days
  • Hasn't happened on my SP3. *knocks on wood*
  • Not an issue for my new SP so far... i5 8G 256GB model
  • Sounds familiar...right, it was an issue I experienced on my original Surface Pro as well: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro-surfusingpro/s... Went on for several weeks before some update was sent out to fix it. Frustrating indeed.
  • It does not look like isolated anymore! the past 2 hours happened twice on my i5 8GB, and it hibernates actually not sleep!
  • to be fair, that doesn't necessarily mean it's not isolated. you may just be one of the unlucky few. not saying it isn't isolated, just simply that your evidence isn't enough to support that statement.
  • Probably is only me but it has happened to me few times and have been able to reproduce it. This is on my Dell 15 7559. Something to do with the right ctrl, shift, , left and left arrow keys. Have noticed whenever I either place my phone on top of those keys or when I accidently place my fingers in that area (can't tell what key combinations happens coz it happens so fast) and the Dell goes into sleep abruptly .
  • Count me in. Had it happen heaps of times on two surfaces!
  • Both of ours are the i5 256Gb 8Gb models.
  • A similar thing happens on the hp spectre x2 from time to time. Goes to sleep, won't wake up, i think it's broken and them back to normal like nothing happened. It's probably an intel thing. 
  • My Leovo T460s does this at work running 1703. I susupect its a Windows issue not specific to the Surface.
  • Sounds like a sensor issue. Doesn't the Surface Pro goto sleep when the keyboard is closed onto it? I have a specific flip case for my P9 that when you flip it all the way open and have it folded to the back of the device, within a minute the phone goes to sleep. Leave the cover hanging to the side / open and it doesn't lock the phone. Just a guess, but perhaps when you pass over the screen with your shadow or the light changes suddenly, maybe the SP is thinking it has the cover put over and goes to sleep. If so, a patch could fix that up.
  • My SP4 i5 8GB did this a couple of weeks ago, only happened the once, hasn't done it since...
  • Is anyone else having issues with the charger brick itself. It randomly stops charging. Unplugging and replugging it fixes it...sometimes. I have tried my old surface pro three charger and have no issues with it.