Solved Screen orientation is locked

[agt499]

Last night my SP3 (Purchased last July, on 8.1 with all current updates) has become unable to change orientation while logged in (exactly what thejoker1993 reported here)

The accelerometer sensor is working well enough that when rotated the screen does its little shrink/jiggle/grow exercise every single time, it just returns to the same orientation it had before rotating.
It seems to set rotation on every arrival at a login prompt: if I log out it will set to an orientation -sometimes correct, sometimes not. It won't rotate at the login screen (it does shrink like it's trying), but it chooses an orientation every time I log off, and keeps it for the subsequent login.

• I have checked the bleedingly obvious: Orientation lock from the Charms/Settings, as well as from Screen Resolution dialog.
• Have tried other User accounts too, and have fully shut down etc several times with and without type cover attached.
• I've tested quite a bit with and without Type cover, with a different Type cover, and with the Dock.
  It reliably gets to landscape when booted with Type cover or Dock active - but I cannot use portrait at all without a logout (I would usually fold the cover back to use in portrait)
• The Sensors are showing as 'happy' in Device Manager - I checked for driver update/rollback, but the drivers seem to have never changed.

Also tried running the MS Sensors troubleshooter cited as step 5 here : http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en...roubleshoot-surface-touchscreen-rotation#auto , with no luck. It tries to run then reports that "Scripted Diagnostics Native Host has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

Any suggestions out there, as the next step is refresh/reload, which I'd really rather avoid.
I'm grimly suspecting it's hardware, so I'll probably need to reload to prove prior to return.

Thanks!

 

[sharpuser]

Sorry about that problem.

I don't suspect hardware as much as I suspect you need a Refresh.
That is because the hardware consistently senses you've physically rotated. The next task is up to software alone.

 

[nipponham]

This doesn’t directly resolve your screen orientation issue but error you get with the troubleshooting tool often indicates a corrupted system file, or your AV running interference with the diagnostics tool. You can try running “sfc /scannow” from an elevated prompt to find and fix bad system files, and you can also try running the troubleshooter with your AV temporarily disabled.

 

[agt499]

Thanks for the suggestions, team.
A refresh has returned things to normal (as well as all the added setup time reminding me how sad I find Windows user profiles).

 

[Dzejms]

No refresh required. A soft reset fixed this problem me, as well as two others (TypeCover not recognized, Video Out from Dock not working). Here are the instructions copy/pasted from another site:

Try holding down the Power button and the Volume up button for 15 seconds. Then, wait a few seconds, and tap the Power button again. [Note: you only have to tap the power button to turn it on, don't hold it down]