My SP3 froze in a meeting

[Sven]

I guess with Windows, and depending on how each device is setup with apps and background services etc. YMMV.

I found my rMBP 13 inch (late 2013) was rock solid, threw everything at it never needed a reboot or a restart.

Windows simply isn't OSX.

I had my first system freeze yesterday. Left SP3 at home, went out, came back, screen was still on and system was frozen and it hadn't gone into standby/sleep.

Event logs didn't show anything untoward.

So one freeze in 8 weeks of ownership, not too bad. But let's hope it stays away.

Did a raft of windows updates the day before, with a large Windows 8.1 750meg update - maybe MS broke something.

 

[enthuz]

I had a freeze this week too. However I'm well trained to know that it was due to my impatience leading to improper docking/undocking procedures. Even engineers are sometimes stubborn to our own guidelines we enforce to the user base.

 

[Liam2349]

Mine has never frozen, however the touch screen does bug out every now and then. Tapping doesn't work properly, and I have to hold the power button to turn it off - it's basically unusable when this happens. Then if you try to slide down to shut down, doesn't work either because the touch screen is bugging - the slider just jumps everywhere.

It happened again today and took me about 5 minutes to get it back on after shutting down.

 

[palmor]

I have had mine freeze, mostly when waking up from sleep... it just doesn't want to resume. No idea what may be causing it since I always have a bunch of applications running.

 

[ynohtna]

windows 7 was very stable for me, never had to reboot. It was always simply sleep and move along. I am quite disappointed about that specific point since moving to Windows 8 over a year ago.

 

[Nys299]

Yes blame Surface Pro 3. Its probably the only laptop or desktop that has every froze in the history of mankind. Op, personally, I think that there is a deep-seated regret over buying the SP3. Frankly I feel that you should just swap it in for a brand new Macbook Air. I'll bet those never freeze and you will feel so happy. Guess what? That day my SP3 shut off after the 6th hour of usage while on batteries. How embarrassing.

 

[kristalsoldier]

thus far out has.....

I sometimes find that there is a bit of a lag with Drawboard when opening up PDF documents - just a few seconds. But when open, it handles them well!

 

[kristalsoldier]

But on the topic of this thread - the SP3 has been wonderfully stable in my experience! It has not frozen up or anything and the only time it shuts down is when it does it by itself after relevant updates. At other times - infrequently, though - I just shut it down for the heck of it. But curiously, I have never actually shut it down during my travels - on flights, trains etc. I am really impressed with the device.

 

[drolem]

My SP3 froze in a meeting yesterday while reviewing a high-value contract with a client. How embarrassing

/end rant

I know it's kinda late in this thread, but one should always get the event log if something like this happens because that can help to narrow down the possibilities.

BTW, were you using BT and WiFi at the same time?

 

[ptrkhh]

Mine has never frozen, however the touch screen does bug out every now and then. Tapping doesn't work properly, and I have to hold the power button to turn it off - it's basically unusable when this happens. Then if you try to slide down to shut down, doesn't work either because the touch screen is bugging - the slider just jumps everywhere.

It happened again today and took me about 5 minutes to get it back on after shutting down.

Do you, by any chance, constantly move from place to place with temperature jumps? The condensation might intervene the touch sensor, and identified as infinite number of finger presses.
If you don't, try factory reset or even exchanging the unit. Theres nothing more painful than having that experience on a tablet. Ive used plenty of Acer tablets, hence I know how that feels.

 

[sharpuser]

@WorldIRC,

I've had a similar condensation issue on my iPad (another tablet, of course). It is possible this happened on your Surface Pro 3. Your original post was July 22. If it was moved from the hot outdoors (Northern Hemisphere) to an air-conditioned conference room immediately before being put to use, then @ptrkhh may have solved this mystery.