Very Dissatisfied With SP4

[No_ax_to_grind]

The SP4 is a brilliant piece of hardware, WHEN IT WORKS. That's saying a lot coming from an Apple guy. I believed enough in the SP4 to not give up when the first unit crashed beyond repair. So I replaced it. The experience with the second SP4 is far better, but it's still frustrating. Display driver crashes, slow wi-fi, intermittent pen disconnects and screen freezing. When it all works its a fun experience. When it doesn't work, I'm ready to return it.

MS blew the launch of SP4 and SB. Both platforms are experiencing their fair share of problems. Too many to be considered a successful product launch. The question remains, will MS make it all right for the consumer? I sure hope so. I'm counting on them to do the right thing and resolve the issues as quickly as possible.

Disappointed? Yes.
Ready to give up? Not yet.

Choices:

1) TH2 comes out tomorrow. Hopefully that will fix most if not all of your problems.
2) Jump on the insider build program. That's usually out in front of the regular patch crowd in terms of fixing driver problems.
3) Reset, re-image the machine.

 

[JordanAT]

Yup, if I had your problems I'd return mine too. But I don't. I'm about 30% switched over on my work stuff (AutoCAD, specialty structural design programs, Office, Bluebeam, email/calendar) and 80% switched over on my personal stuff (Lightroom/PS, Musescore, Audacity, surfing, Plex). I've hooked up to an external 30" monitor and gone dual screen. Even video playback (hue shift) has been fine since about Friday.

I'd have probably already returned mine if I had the problems you have.

 

[Cask]

I have no issues at all after the November firmware update with the insider build 10586. TH2 really is a much better Windows 10 experience

 

[robertcan]

Actually I believe what you're dissatisfied with is Windows 10. Many of these issues are also being reported on other devices as well, that points to the software as the problem. Unfortunately, in a practical sense, the SP4 and Windows 10 are inextricably linked.

Well said. While I was looking at this in the totality of the experience, I believe you're right about this being more about Win10. That's the only reason I'm not giving up and returning my SP4. The experience can be improved through software fixes. If I thought it was truly hardware, I'd be returning the Sp4 and waiting for gen 2.0

 

[ispep]

I too am having a lot of problems with my SP4. The screen flickering/color tint changing issue seems to have been resolved with the 11/2 firmware update, however, I am still frequently getting the error below. I had an appointment with the Answer Desk at my local Microsoft Store yesterday and they re-installed the graphics drivers but unfortunately the error is still occurring. Not sure what I am going to do. The system is also intermittently freezing requiring a "two-button shutdown". At this point I am missing my SP3 .

 

[GreyFox7]

I too am having a lot of problems with my SP4. The screen flickering/color tint changing issue seems to have been resolved with the 11/2 firmware update, however, I am still frequently getting the error below. I had an appointment with the Answer Desk at my local Microsoft Store yesterday and they re-installed the graphics drivers but unfortunately the error is still occurring. Not sure what I am going to do. The system is also intermittently freezing requiring a "two-button shutdown". At this point I am missing my SP3 .

View attachment 7179

A couple things, Disable Flash, that cut down my DD crashes.

Re freezing... I have had the Touchscreen, Pen, and Touchpad all stop responding which by all appearances seems frozen. However, the keyboard still worked and can be attached if it's not so you can save your work and do an orderly shutdown. You might be hitting the same issue.

 

[jnjroach]

I too am having a lot of problems with my SP4. The screen flickering/color tint changing issue seems to have been resolved with the 11/2 firmware update, however, I am still frequently getting the error below. I had an appointment with the Answer Desk at my local Microsoft Store yesterday and they re-installed the graphics drivers but unfortunately the error is still occurring. Not sure what I am going to do. The system is also intermittently freezing requiring a "two-button shutdown". At this point I am missing my SP3 .

View attachment 7179

This is a known issue with the SkyLake SoC and Intel and Microsoft are working on a fix that should be available soon....

 

[Planetbrian]

Yes, my i5, 8g, 256 is going back to Newegg for exchange. I will give it one more chance, but I am very limited on time and now patience. Also, I am also not going to "put up" with a $1600 device....it either works or it doesn't....$1600 ought to buy a very nice, high quality, fully functional device void of any major issues. Microsoft ought to be ashamed.

If they fix everything else, I will still not be very happy about the Marvel wireless chipset....for this kind of money, I expect the best which is Intel.

Is anyone getting over 144 Mbps on the 2.4 ghz wireless band? My wife's laptop is getting 300 Mbps.

 

[Carolv]

Wich models have you got?

Mine is the i5/256GB/8GB RAM

 

[Seneleron]

Re freezing... I have had the Touchscreen, Pen, and Touchpad all stop responding which by all appearances seems frozen. However, the keyboard still worked and can be attached if it's not so you can save your work and do an orderly shutdown. You might be hitting the same issue.

Has anyone seen any kind of an explanation for this one as yet? I had this happen to me while running Hearthstone [first time I "gamed" on it] and curious to know if it was heat or driver related.

Also, screen flickers in netflix [maximized, not full screen] but not while full screen maximized.

 

[Carolv]

This is a known issue with the SkyLake SoC and Intel and Microsoft are working on a fix that should be available soon....

I have also received that notice a few times, along with the flickering and transparency issues. I'm holding off returning to see if a fix will correct my issues. Will give it another week or so before I take it in. Before I take it in I may even try to do a reset.

I have the latest Graphics driver, but I've seen some posts saying to reinstall the Graphics driver. Anyone have a link for the driver.

 

[Planetbrian]

I have also received that notice a few times, along with the flickering and transparency issues. I'm holding off returning to see if a fix will correct my issues. Will give it another week or so before I take it in. Before I take it in I may even try to do a reset.

I have the latest Graphics driver, but I've seen some posts saying to reinstall the Graphics driver. Anyone have a link for the driver.

I can't help you on the link. How is your wireless distance compared to another modern laptop? On 5 ghz wifi my wife is getting 866 Mbps and I am getting 87 and they are right next to each other. Also my 2.4 Ghz wifi is maxing out at 144 Mbps. Her new laptop has an Intel wireless chipset.