New Surface Pro 3 Owner: Is my unit defective?

[kidpiglet]

Hi, I recently purchased the Surface Pro 3 (i3 model) and was wondering if anyone can help answer these things I've been experiencing so that I can rule out whether my unit is defective please:


1) I notice the screen gets warm moments after turning on the sp3 and when the unit is idle. Not hot at all, but just a bit noticeably warm. This is even before I started installing stuff. Is this normal?

2) The sound quality is very poor. I don't mean low in volume - but poor sound when listening to music in tunes like it's muffled - not very clear and a bit echoey. I know it's a tablet, but my 7" playbook has cleaner sound. Is the surface known to have low quality sound? (I have nothing blocking the speaker btw).


Also I've been having some software issues as well hopefully someone can help me with:


3) I've read that Surface Hub app allows the windows button (on the bezel) to be disabled. I downloaded the app from the Windows store but this option is missing. Looking at screenshots it's supposed to be available under Pen Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Button option but the setting to configure the windows button is not there at all. Has anyone experienced this and know the reason why it's missing?

4) I tried calibrating my unit this evening (the screen calibration setting), and after finishing, the cursor was totally out of whack and appearing nowhere near the position of my pen - almost on the opposite side of the screen. I resetted the option, and re-calibrated it with the screen rotated upside down, and it worked like normal. But then moments later the cursor got all screwy again.

Is the SP3 known to have issues with pen calibration? Has this happened to anyone before and if so any idea why this is happening?

5) I had to go back to the default screen calibration settings but a thing I noticed now is that whenever the screen loses focus to an administrator user account control popup message, the pen cursor will disappear and lose connection with the screen. The only way for the cursor to reappear and become useable again is by lifting the pen an inch away from the screen and move it back to the surface for it to be detected again.

It's not a major isssue, but an annoyance and I'm not sure if this was normal before I played with the screen calibration. Can someone tell me if their surface pro 3 has the same problem?

6) I tried to perform a system restore and it failed. Has anyone successfully managed to perform a system restore with avast installed? Even when I disable it and uncheck the 'self defense' mode in options, windows cannot seem to system restore with this software present

7) I have a bluetooth mouse connected and after less a minute of being idle there's a short delay when using the mouse again. Again, is this behaviour normal and is there a way to keep the mouse in continuous connection with the bluetooth signal? edit - also notice this symptom with the pen as well.

8) Is there a setting that will allow the keyboard popup icon to appear when clicking any text field like windows xp tablet edition?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my questions!

 

[kzxt]

Firstly, welcome to the Surface forums and it's great to see a new SP3 owner like myself. I'll try answer some of the questions you have.

1) It's perfectly normal as windows takes time to do its indexing, for the first few days or perhaps weeks (depending on the number of files you have), it will be slightly warm. It also happens during/after windows update for a period of time as well.

3) For the option to be shown, you need to install all the important/recommended windows update first. There is a update that specifically address the issue (I'm not sure which KB is it though)

4) Is there something wrong with your unit? If not a calibration wouldn't be necessary.

8) You mean the on-screen keyboard? Some apps like the chrome has an automatic feature to show the keyboard during user inputs when type cover isn't attached. IE (MUI) has it too, I believe.

If you have any failed windows update, you could perhaps try this:

This method requires a clean refresh of your windows!
Do backup before doing this! I'm not responsible for any loss!

1) Refresh your Windows 8.1 (Charms > Change PC Settings > Update and recovery > Recovery > Refresh your PC)
2) Go to this link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-the-Windows-Update-troubleshooter
Download and run the file (it's safe)
3) Afterwards, it'll say complete (stating the issues encountered)
4) Run Windows Update (I used the one via charms) and let it download/install

Screenshot: http://imgur.com/JUYebmL

Alternatively, you could sometimes fix by doing this:

In an elevated Command Prompt window, type in:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

The above method will take quite sometime.

 

[kidpiglet]

Hi, thanks for the help

1) It's perfectly normal as windows takes time to do its indexing, for the first few days or perhaps weeks (depending on the number of files you have), it will be slightly warm. It also happens during/after windows update for a period of time as well.

Interesting! Thanks for the explanation. I'm not sure the location of the cpu on the surface but on my other tablets I never felt heat near the screen. It's a bit uncomfortable as I'm used to a cool screen surface when I sketch.

3) For the option to be shown, you need to install all the important/recommended windows update first. There is a update that specifically address the issue (I'm not sure which KB is it though)

I have installed all available updates but I will try to uninstall/reinstall surface hub app and see if the problem is corrected. I installed ClassicShell on my sp3 so i'm not sure if this has caused the issue.

4) Is there something wrong with your unit? If not a calibration wouldn't be necessary.

There is nothing wrong but I wanted to get a bit better accuracy as I found the cursor off about a mm at certain areas of the screen. Has your surface exhibited this sort of behaviour though?

8) You mean the on-screen keyboard? Some apps like the chrome has an automatic feature to show the keyboard during user inputs when type cover isn't attached. IE (MUI) has it too, I believe.

Thanks for the tip! In the old windows xp tablet edition, any time you put the cursor in a text field, a little keyboard icon will show up, and if you click on it the on screen keyboard appears. With windows 8, I think they removed this feature which is kind of weird since it was extremely useful.


Also another question I have is, when I started up the sp3 for the first time I was able to select a windows background colour. I want to change this colour but i don't see where the settings are. When I go to the app setting menu to personalize, I don't see an option to do this. Also under control panel, I can change my wallpaper and window colour but not the main colour (the one during startup and shut down.) Any idea where this setting is?

 

[kzxt]

Interesting! Thanks for the explanation. I'm not sure the location of the cpu on the surface but on my other tablets I never felt heat near the screen. It's a bit uncomfortable as I'm used to a cool screen surface when I sketch.

It's at the right side, slightly towards the top (where the windows button reside). It's slightly warm for me as well when using fresh paint to sketch on, which I think is normal?

I have installed all available updates but I will try to uninstall/reinstall surface hub app and see if the problem is corrected. I installed ClassicShell on my sp3 so i'm not sure if this has caused the issue.

Did you try to run the updates while having both your type cover and pen attached to the device? Are they marked as successful in the windows update history?

There is nothing wrong but I wanted to get a bit better accuracy as I found the cursor off about a mm at certain areas of the screen. Has your surface exhibited this sort of behaviour though?

I don't really notice it to be honest. I can't really answer this though.

Also another question I have is, when I started up the sp3 for the first time I was able to select a windows background colour. I want to change this colour but i don't see where the settings are. When I go to the app setting menu to personalize, I don't see an option to do this. Also under control panel, I can change my wallpaper and window colour but not the main colour (the one during startup and shut down.) Any idea where this setting is?

Swipe in from the right side of your tablet or the type cover's touchpad, then go to settings > personalize (I believe)

 

[kidpiglet]

Thanks, you hit the 1st one! that's the right spot! I guess I will have to put up with this and hope it does not get hotter than it already is (which is only just mildly warm atm).

3) I uninstalled surface hub thru the start screen, and reinstalled it and that fixed the problem. But immediately I did notice momentarily the windows button not working (even though I had it ENABLED) and some erratic pen behavior and unwanted clicks on the screen even though I did not have a keyboard or mouse hooked up. It went away but just a bit concerned this problem recoccurs.

I did notice before I uninstalled/reinstalled surface hub today, that when trying to resume my sp3 from sleep using the pen it did not wake up. The pen cursor was working, but clicking on the pen top button didn't work after manually turning on the sp3. I had to uninstall and reinstall the pen under the bluetooth settings for it to work again. Is this normal where the pen suddenly loses bluetooth connectivity after a short while and needs to be repaired every day or so?

8) That setting is completely missing from my settings which I'm not sure is a result of me installing classicshell. I found a workaround though, if I go into the start screen and type in 'color' in the searchbox it will let me "change the background and color on start".

If anyone can help answer the above remaining questions in the 1st post I'd appreciate it

 

[kzxt]

3) I uninstalled surface hub thru the start screen, and reinstalled it and that fixed the problem. But immediately I did notice momentarily the windows button not working (even though I had it ENABLED) and some erratic pen behavior and unwanted clicks on the screen even though I did not have a keyboard or mouse hooked up. It went away but just a bit concerned this problem recoccurs.

That's odd.. I'm not experiencing such issue so I can't give any help on that.

I did notice before I uninstalled/reinstalled surface hub today, that when trying to resume my sp3 from sleep using the pen it did not wake up. The pen cursor was working, but clicking on the pen top button didn't work after manually turning on the sp3. I had to uninstall and reinstall the pen under the bluetooth settings for it to work again. Is this normal where the pen suddenly loses bluetooth connectivity after a short while and needs to be repaired every day or so?

The pairing probably only needs to be done once. You just need to pair them up in the charms (swipe from the right) -> settings -> pc and devices -> bluetooth and then check whether the pen has been paired up with. If it hasn't, click and hold down the top of the pen for about 7 seconds where you'll see a green light coming out on the top side of the pen, then it indicates that the pen can be found and you may begin to pair it to your surface.