Black Screen and Won't Wake - KB Hot Fix posted

[jnjroach]

Many users have struggled post February Firmware Update with Black Screen and Unresponsive on Wake issues:

Microsoft quietly issued a Hotfix today to address the issue here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3145770

Please read carefully and follow the instructions.

 

[motocoder]

One of my coworkers tried the steps in the KB, and although he initially did not have success with this, he was able to get it to work with a slight change to the instructions there.

What he did was to delete the “device” in device manager, reboot, then in device manager point the “device” to the folder containing the latest drivers. It will say that the latest driver is already installed, but then will ask to reboot the machine. Upon reboot, it should install the firmware update.

I hope this helps others. I do think this is the root cause of some of the issues people are having. It's definitely not the only cause, as my SB does not have this problem, but still manifests some issues.

Good luck!

 

[JaeMelo]

It seems like Microsoft has been doing updates every month. Do you think we'll still get something this month to address the other bugs or do you think this is what we are getting for March?!

 

[Compusmurf]

This is the same as feb. Hopefully we get something better.

 

[motocoder]

Microsoft typically releases patches on the 2nd and sometimes also 4th Tuesday of the month. I don't have any insight into what patches are in the pipeline, unfortunately.

At this point, my SB is reasonably stable. I have seen only one BSOD since the latest round of updates, am occasionally experiencing the issue with the Windows Hello camera not getting enabled during logon (fixed with a reboot), and have had one hot-bag incident that I think was caused by a crash when the computer was in sleep mode. Outside of the one hot-bag incident, power consumption during sleep is good if I remember to shut off the WiFi before closing the lid. Not perfect, and not where I'd like it to be by any means, but it's stable enough to be a daily use computer now. I think others that are having more frequent or severe issues need to go through the steps in this KB, and if that doesn't resolve it, take the thing back to the MS store and let them deal with it.

 

[JaeMelo]

^ This thing may be stable for a Microsoft product but compared to other laptops that I've owned in the past this thing is a hot mess. Its a beautiful machine don't get me wrong. I love mine, but this is probably the most unstable piece of hardware I've owned since the xbox 360 which now that I think of it I am not surprised. Every other issue I can put up with but the whole keyboard and touchpad failing to register input intermittently is ridiculous. This thing has been on the market too long to still be plagued with so many problems.

 

[Niterider4]

My wake-from-sleep problem is much better now than it was before the 2/17/16 updates. I think I have only had one or two times where I got the dreaded black screen, keyboard lights, need to hard power down.

Other than that though, hardly a day goes by where I don't have one problem or another with my Surface Book. Screen brightness issues, no auto-rotate after detaching, touchpad unresponsive, pen stops working, etc., etc.

I love the idea of the Surface Book. But to me reliability is the most important feature of a laptop computer, and on that measure the Surface Book fails miserably.

 

[motocoder]

It's not what I personally would call "stable for a Microsoft product". Please take the Microsoft bashing somewhere else. I have a desktop running Windows 10 that has never crashed - not once. And I actually have had way more issues with my iPad than Windows products in recent years.

Yes, the SurfaceBook has problems, and MS has publicly acknowledged this. If you need something 100% stable NOW, then this isn't the right laptop for you. Take it back and go buy a more traditional Windows laptop (Asus, Dell, whatever) or a MacBook.

 

[leeshor]

I'll add one more thing, want a laptop with no problems at all, no Skylake processor, No Windows 10.

It doesn't matter the brand, if it has Skylake you will see issues.

 

[motocoder]

I'll add one more thing, want a laptop with no problems at all, no Skylake processor, No Windows 10.

It doesn't matter the brand, if it has Skylake you will see issues.

I've been using Windows 10 on my Asus Zenbook for quite some time. Zero issues. Not sure what you have against Windows 10...

 

[leeshor]

I personally don't have anything against Windows 10. I'm selling bunches of desktops with it installed. Portable devices (though yours may be just fine), especially with Skylake are having issues as are quite a few people with the ASUS Zenbook. (from an ASUS forum).

It's another one of those cases where people who don't have problems typically don't report that it's working fine. You only hear from those that ARE having problems.

 

[JaeMelo]

It's not what I personally would call "stable for a Microsoft product". Please take the Microsoft bashing somewhere else. I have a desktop running Windows 10 that has never crashed - not once. And I actually have had way more issues with my iPad than Windows products in recent years.

Yes, the SurfaceBook has problems, and MS has publicly acknowledged this. If you need something 100% stable NOW, then this isn't the right laptop for you. Take it back and go buy a more traditional Windows laptop (Asus, Dell, whatever) or a MacBook.

Notice in my post the link between the two faulty Microsoft products happen to be Microsoft's hardware. The fault is not with Microsoft's OS. Your desktop PC was assembled by a totally different OEM which has absolutely no relevance to the surface book fiasco. The problem here is the Surface Book and its drivers. Not Windows 10, nor your desktop running Windows 10. In addition, this is a discussion forum buddy. I am free to state my opinion and experiences regardless if they're positive or negative, given that I respect the forum rules.

Not sure who you think you are telling others where to take their posts but now may be a good time to get off your high horse. If I or anyone indirectly mentions something that bothers you, act like an adult; humble yourself and ignore it. I am not your enemy. I am simply a member expressing his frustration with yet another MS Product.