Surface Tablet

fortytwo · November 11, 2021

My old (think version 2 or 3) Surface tablet will not start. Used it on a business trip in early October, worked then; stored it back on the shelf in mid October. Won't start today. Power cord has the little white light at the tip glowing. The brick is slightly warm. I whacked it with palm of my hand without result. Presume it is now worse than useless. Old desktops could be used as a boat anchor when they died 🙂

RV_ · November 11, 2021

Surface or Surface Pro? There was a smaller 10 inch Surface before the larger Surface Pro starting with the Pro 3. The Surface Pro and Pro 2 were smaller too but ran very hot and only had a few hours run times. Which is yours? There are a few things that might help. Just let me know which model it is so I can check some things out.

fortytwo · November 12, 2021

RV, Box says Surface Pro 4. Thought it had just discharged while sitting on the shelf a couple of weeks. The little white lite would seem to indicate power is getting to the tablet connection. I've let it sit overnight on the charger but it doesn't turn on. Even if the battery has crashed it should at least light up the screen if it's alive.

Wes

fortytwo · November 15, 2021

Well, the Microsquish POS started. Plugged it in to an outlet in a different room. Left if for 3 days. Today it started when I pushed the button. I had left it plugged in for a couple of days earlier with no result. Sure creates a lot of confidence in using a tablet to replace a laptop ---NOT.

Should have mastered Android or Linux years ago. Too old to invest the time to do it now so reluctantly I'll have to add another laptop to the 5 I have now (5-18 years old)😞

RV_ · November 18, 2021

I sold my Surface Pro 4 just a a couple of months ago. It did the same thing as that year had a phantom power drain. You apparently had an outlet issue too from the sound of it.

Mine would discharge to dead if left unplugged for four days or more. On plugging back in it took about ten minutes to get enough charge to run and continue charging.

I found no solution other than to leave it charging at night as it always ran the four or five hours it did when new many years ago.

I also had two Surface chargers fail on me. But I had bought several returns refurbs from a friend for five bucks and have two spares. As well I had bought an after market charger like this that was sold with the Pro 4. https://www.amazon.com/Surface-Charger-Adapter-Microsoft-Charging/dp/B08K8QNPBX/ref=psdc_11041841_t3_B085Q2N2GY

The Pro 4 was the only one I have had with the discharge problem over a few days. I have had the first Surface RT tablet, the Pro 3, 4 and now have the Pro 7, Pro 7+ LTE, and two Surface Go 2 systems with LTE. It is the first tablet Lynda likes and uses daily as I guess the Surface Pros felt too big to her as a tablet. She's 5'1.5" small with very petite hands. None of my other Surface tablets have had power standby issues.

You might want to run this to be sure that is the only issue: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/fix-common-surface-problems-using-the-surface-diagnostic-toolkit-f61d8d18-37a9-863d-f8d0-1982eb16f7b5

The easiest way to wake a reluctant Surface assuming you charged it is to hold down the power button until it force shuts down and then restarts. When you see the Windows Logo let the power button go.

Here are some other options: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/surface-won-t-turn-on-or-wake-from-sleep-1e181652-3db8-5ca1-9649-7390fafb102a

But there is no solution to the power discharge over several days except to leave it on charge every night if you use it every day like I did. My 4 was totally reliable and ran 4-6 hours even at the end. If it only used half the charge I would wait until using it the next day and plug it in while I was using it if it had 25% or better. There were no issues doing that.

I sold my Pro 4 for $200 with the case, glass screen protector, charger AND Type cover for $50 bucks more so $250.00. It was cheap as it was an i7/8GB RAM/256GB SSD. I explained all the above to the buyer so he got a great system he knew had a minor issue. easy workaround. I did the workaround for years. I am deciding which Pro I am selling the Surface Pro 7+ LTE which is still under warranty. I am keeping the Pro 7 i7/16GB RAM/256GB SSD and my Surface Go 2 both with typecovers etc.

Hope that helps.

Edited November 18, 2021 by RV_

fortytwo · November 19, 2021

RV, Thanks for the Surface Pro info. I had left it unplugged for a couple of weeks, so was not surprised that it didn't start initially, but when it didn't start after 2 days on the charger I was clueless and assumed I had a lightweight door stop. I'll just use it like a desktop and leave it charging til needed. The battery seems to have good life left. I still had almost a half full battery image after 4 hours and it started after leaving it off the charger overnight.

During my wife's Assisted Living journey I bought a large All-In-One. Too big for the RV I just bought, an oldie-but-goodie Chinook to replace the Class A I sold while I was on caretaker duty. I'll need a new laptop for it. Costco has a 16" HP Inspironn with UHD screen for old eyes. $1,300 seems a decent price and most important for me, the heels of my hand on the oversize touchpad do not move the cursor. Every other laptop I've owned does and I have to use a mouse. No touchscreen, but I just leave fingerprints on them.

Next year will be my 55th RVing year. Not sure how it will go solo. The old song line "Learning to live with myself is so hard to do" (Waylon I think) is proving very true.

Thanks again for sharing your expertise.

Wes

RV_ · November 21, 2021

Wes - Wow 55 years!

YW! Nooo far from a brick. While there is always a "possibility" that your internal charger has an issue, I thought that with mine. One OEM charger was iffy and would charge sometimes other times not. That's why I got the aftermarket inexpensive one. Another OEM charger works great but the white charging indicator doesn't light up. I gave the guy that bought mine that one and the aftermarket one with the Pro4 as a spare.

I wouldn't leave it plugged in ALL the time, not with an iffy charge brick. I'd get the aftermarket and charge it every few days after you see how long it takes to discharge when not in use. If the new charger does the same then you know and can decide what you want to do. I wanted to try the Surface book tablet laptop to use as a tablet but it is too heavy for holding up like a tablet. When I haven't used my Pro and just used the Go2 10" my elbow gets sore for a day or so going back to the Pro7.

My Dell 2720 27" touchscreen system is getting long in the tooth, it is a 2014 and getting corrupt files more often. I fix them by booting into "Safe Mode" and running the DISM tool first, then the SFC tool. Not the order in this how to website below. You will need to get your bitlocker Identifier and Bitlocker key by right clicking your C Drive and selecting properties then click on Bitlocker on the right and copy paste it or send it to a file or USB drive. I would do it in safe mode which is where you need the Bitlocker key. https://windowsreport.com/corrupted-system-files-windows-10/?utm_source=pocket_mylist

That will insure no corrupt files are creating the charge issue.

Anyway I am getting an HP All in one 27" Quad HD touchscreen, i7 11th gen, 16 GB RAM, 512GB SSD and 2TB HDD, Discrete graphics card, list price 1459.00 and Black Friday sale 10% off! Three models but all come with Windows 11! 😮☹ So I have a month to return it. I'll just run my back up system and switch back and forth until I have it tweaked as I like. I might as well jump in. They don't sell Windows 10 with a free upgrade when ready like they did with 10 from 7/8.

I do use the touchscreens.

Best wishes in your solo travels bud.

Edited November 21, 2021 by RV_

fortytwo · November 23, 2021

RV, beware the AIO! Mine black screened after 10 months. Had to send it to HP. 1st thing repair did was format the hard drive - totally unnecessary as it booted from the SD. Since it was dead I was not able to get anything off the drive and I had been lazy and not done a back up for a couple of months . The 31" HP AIO weighs over 30 pounds, awkward to handle, and no easy to pull the HD to read it on another device. You lose everything you haven't backed up, unless you use the cloud - which I don't. It does have a super UHD screen though. Spoils you. HP repair was the pits to deal with. Returned mine without the SD (said they were not available - but Amazon had plenty of them.) Then another return and they sent me a "new" one instead of replacing the SD.

I had a second similar event within 3 months, but it was out of warranty and Costco support talked me through a restart with a complex series of combinations of Ctrl, Alt, Start, and several F keys. Worked though.

Wes

RV_ · November 23, 2021

Wes, thanks for the heads up! Did you have the 27" 32" or other size HP? I went to the You tube videos showing how to R&R the SSD/HDD on the 32"

My Dell 27" AIO is similar with a million little tabs around the edge but no tape - EZPZ. The ols Del 27" is two screws and no tabs once the stand is removed. EZPZ too.

However thanks for the heads up. I may just drop back down to the 27" for ease of use and $500 less cost.

Wes! you don't have to remove the drive to back it up or make a system image before it dies as I am sure you know.

I used to use the old control panel Windows 7 back up and restore and never had a failure and it is free. Just type control panel in search in Windows 10 and it pops up. The in the control panel screen top right change "View By" from "Category" (the useless default view) to Large Icons." Or at least Control Panel was on all my Windows 10 machines, I don't know about Windows 11. I also have a lifetime license for EaseUs Todo back up and imaging/cloning which works well. So I always have an image I can restore to the system. MY 2720 current main system now has a 32GB internal m.2 SSD that it came with stock, a small oddball one that would be a PITA to set up as the boot drive that I only use as a Ready-boost drive and a 1TB SSD. Although I have about 20TB of hard drives and an External Thermaltake USB 3.0 drive dock attached with a 2TB HDD, as well I keep a WD Elements 4TB external drive attached to it for images and some file storage.

I always image my systems and do a drive/s wipe and factory resat them myself before I send any drive out to others. That's why I have so many HDDs as I keep them, all 1TB and 2TB when I upgrade them to an SSD or larger SSD. Then when I get it back I restore the drive image. In the past it was much cheaper to get my own SSD rather than pay for it already in the system. Not so anymore. So as long as I have that system I keep the original drive and clone the SSD to it periodically which gives me an instant pop in replacement to hold me over until I can get a new drive. In using the new USB C and 3.2 drives doing clones etc takes 10 minutes instead of an hour. So it is time to new system to bring my main system into the USB C age.

So I am calling tech support and making sure I can order the back cover tape with my system so I know I can go into it at least once if I absolutely need to, and ordering a just in case tape set again.

I may just punt drop back to the quad HD 27" system.

So do you have the HP 32" AIO now?

fortytwo · November 26, 2021

RV, I have the 32". Love the screen, but it hinders multi tasking: computer and one-eyed babysitter. Gotta remount the TV a couple of feet higher. The 32" is not touch screen so would be less attractive for you. It is painfully slow until you've looked at a folder and it is cached. I created a new directory for a batch of my old ripped CD's. Took a loooong time for the song titles to show up so I'm pretty sure it was caching them before sending them to the screen.

The stand for mine was attached when it arrived, and there's no way to remove it until the back cover is removed. Looks like it's possible to pry it off with a thin blade. At the time mine failed I was up to my ears in caregiver duties and just sent it off for repair without expending any time investigating removal of the HD & SSD.

I know how to back up. Just not diligent about it. Have reached the age of understanding that none of this stuff will be in my casket and none who survive me gives a crap about it anyway. My duplex is crowded with collections acquired by Sally and I, not inexpensively, that lack of interest by our younger family members destines for a Florida garbage can. I now adhere to the philosophy that tomorrow may be my last day and I'm not going to spend it cleaning the garage.

Wes

RV_ · November 27, 2021

Wes! I love it! Yep I am coming to the same conclusion. I am looking at the 32" Quad HD touch screen but the 27" would be fine. The reviews are pretty awesome. But I may just go for the 27". The stand comes off easily in the new ones, just go to YouTube and Google your model with R&R hard drive and you should see it. I would have thought as you do if not for YouTube. I'm doing an i7 - 16 or 32 GB RAM - with both a 512GB SSD with the system on it and a 2TB HDD for storage. It has the 10th and 11th gen processors. I have a Dell I bought last year with the 10th gen and it is very very fast. I can return it for a full refund so I'll know in an hour if it has delay issues. I hope you can resolve yours.

I am spending several hundred bucks having my Hi8 videos transferred to digital on a large external Hard Drive. They should all fit on a 500GB but I'll put them on a 1TB. Then that is it. We have several thousand analog pictures and even I was only interested in a few hundred. I have sorted them out long ago. I digitized a few and realize when I die so will those memories save the few we shared with our kids. And they will chuck them. Along with my collector's hardware I keep just so I can play a VHS or Hi8 tape in a VCR on the large screen. I stopped collecting CDs/DVDs/BluRays/cassettes/LPs in the 90s.

Heck, even I don't recognize everyone in my own family photos.

I agree the organic storage between our ears is best for all those memories until it crashes for good.

RV_ · December 5, 2021

Wow the last time I thought they had a 32" touch but you're right. So I am doing this one with touch, https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/ConfigureView?urlLangId=&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&catEntryId=3074457345619931326&quantity=1

16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 2TB storage HDD, upgrade 2X2 Realtek Wifi adapter, IR camera, GeForce MX 350 (4GB GDDR5dedicated) white wireless keyboard and mouse for $1613.69 discounted from $1792.99

However I got a better deal during Black Friday sales so I'm waiting for the Christmas holiday sales. Or later. My dell 2720 is great again after I tweaked the emails and display settings. So I am in no hurry. I also might buy used but it has to be a gen 11 i7 close to the specs in the link.