The launch of Microsoft's Windows 8-powered Surface Pro and RT hasn't been completely smooth, but until now, at least, it hadn't been plagued by software bugginess. Unfortunately, though, even that good luck apparently had to end at some point.
A problem with the Surface Pro's standby mode is causing some users headaches, as apparently the tablet can enter a deep enough sleep that it will refuse to wake up when the appropriate button is pressed. The Surface Pro will vibrate as it would normally during a reboot, but the tablet will not come back on, and those pretty Windows 8 tiles won't brighten up the screen.
You can work around the problem by performing a hard reset of the device, but those who have put the Surface Pro to sleep before saving their work would then find everything lost that hadn't been saved before the reset.
"The problem is simple: let the device go into sleep/standby. It won't wake up," a user dubbed LeoNot wrote on Microsoft's community page. "I can feel a vibrate when I push the Windows button, but that's it. I'm forced to do a hard reboot by holding the power button down for 10 sec to regain access to my machine.
"I have had it work, but it seems to have once again broken.
"Any clues as to what's causing this and what I can do to work around it? Sleep is VERY important to me being able to use this device."
Fortunately, the problem has a solution, and it's a pretty easy thing to fix. If you find your own Surface Pro is suffering from the same issue, just follow these instructions from Microsoft's support thread:
- Open Device Manager from the Control Panel or however you normally open it
- Expand Network Adapters and double click Marvell Avastar 350N
- Choose the Power Management tab and make sure the checkbox is checked for Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power
Boom. Your Surface Pro should be able to go to sleep and wake up like a champ.
