Source
r/Surface•
Hitman261

My experience with SP8 (hint: a negative one)

[PRO8]

First to clarify 2 things. A) I work at SW area so let's say I might be more demanding/vigilant user. B) I own SP4 (top spec), docking station, keyboards, headphones - all surface so I really wanted to give SP8 a go/chance. And decided for the 32GB version

So my experience starts there First it was a challenge to order my device in Europe. 32GB versions seemed out of stock. DE store support was useless, saying that I sure can order it and it's in stock. But when I told them - go ahead and do that for me, they figured out (after some 25minutes) that devices are really out of stock and they "have no idea when they will be in stock again".... And that I can only order my SP832GB version without a student/teacher discount. But they also have not managed to "remove it from my account" to do so (when they were still firm on telling me that it's sure available - making a fool out of me). So there simply was nothing to order... Wasted time .. Anyway that same day (Friday) I gave it a chance again and tried later in the evening. Aaand successfully (without any support) ordered a 32GB RAM version with 10% off (student/teacher)... I guess they found one behind the sofa just for me.

So now shipping: First I got an email saying I should get the device on 04.01.2022, then store updated it to basically "next thursday". Then they updated that again and shipped it on Saturday saying I should get it by Wednesday. I got a text from UPS saying I should get it on Tuesday. But late Sunday afternoon they updated that to Monday 8-12Am (so basically I ordered on Friday evening and got it on Monday... Yaaay!).

Unpacked the device, let it warm-in a bit. And then started it.... Lots of updates (FW included). After those the device was successfully booting 1/2 of the time. Other times it just showed the surface logo and shut down... Hmm... Ok, must have been all the updates and crappy Win11 experience. Let's do a fresh install (again), loosing all my data and settings but it was also just one day of having it so no biggie.

[2]nd install - everything stable... Yaay! But this wouldn't make a story, would it? Fast forward 5days..

... I was about to transfer my data from an external HDD when during that time suddenly I got "driver error" for that drive. It just stopped working. I didn't notice that also the BT keyboard and mouse stopped working (you can still use touch and that's what I did). I ran to the shop to get a new USB-C/USB-A adaptor just because I though the one I got with my Samsung phone back in the days is crap... No help.

Also it was hysterical step from my side as it worked just fine a few minutes before... But still, the optimism blinded me...

Ok so let's restart. It must be just stuck. Binbows does that from time to time... ...aaaand that was a last time my short lived aluminimum friend was able to communicate with me... (Queue screaming goat sounds)

After that I was unable to boot it - BSOD "unable to access boot device". No repair that device tried to do on its own helped either. Reset from internal backup on SSD did no help either... All failed.

Ok so I drove 100km up and down to get a second PC to create a USB recovery/install/thingy key. Managed to do a reinstall... Just for those counting with me... A 3rd time fresh OS. Already reaching 0.8TBW and I basically just spent hours debugging the device.

This last reinstall took a loooong time to finish. I know how long USB installs usually last.. This was long. Therefore already fishy. Anyhu, the device booted up. But Fans on high-high... Wasn't able to calm the device down regardless that the back plate was not very hot. Still blasting air like mad. Sitting there at some 40⁰Europian. ...Ok 2AM time to bed. Tomorrow it sure will resolve itself. Still wouldn't make a story... Would it?

Turned it on Today... After just not doing anything, in 5minutes another BSOD saying "registry error" showed up. No app was running (well exploder.exe sure was but nothing 3rd party). That was a last nail into... this whole situation. I called DE support to get a return label @DE store support: upgrade your microphones please! It was hell to talk to you... The support lady sounded muffled and distorted like if she would be talking to me from my trunk, being all tied up, with tape over her mouth, and I driving 160km/h... on a dirt track... Nice lady though. But the experience....

So basically I gave the device back. Together with my screen "shield"/glass I installed (and cancelling my 4yrs extra warranty).

And I said to myself.... After all those things... I guess it's time to try a mac... Btw big Louis Rossmann fan(spin). But I also need to be creative with my music. Not hoping that next unit I would have received would not die on me after 10 days... And my old buddy Surface Pro 4 is still going strong. Well those young guys aren't what they used to be I guess ;-) Storytime over. Good night :-)

Posted Dec 6, 2021, 8:44 PM UTC · edited

011
BigDickEnterprise•

Well that obviously sounds like a defective device. Sucks that it happened to you though, especially since they don't have a replacement one.

3
Hitman261OP•

Well if it would just crap out straight away I'd be fine with that.

Also I haven't told this in my story that this SP8 unit refused to load one 2TB NVMe drive (in an external enclosure) that was almost brand new. All the other (3) windows 10 machines I have (SP4, dell xps15, HP workstation) loaded it with no problem. This SP8 unit (once plugged in) made the disk click... Like a click of death on HDD... But on a SSD.. Scary sound... whatever it was doing to the disk was scary. That was actually a thing I was sorting out first days I got this unit but concluded that maybe the external disk really was bad and got a replacement for it. Maybe it was this SP8 alltogether? Trying to kill an external disk plugged in via USB-C port... Sounds absurd to me! But after all of this. In span of 7days? I now think the disk might have been fine and this SP8 was straight from hell meant to disrupt some government (wrongly shipped to me... O_o)

So keyword is: mode of failure. Such modes like this one are really problematic to live with

1
swyost_TX•

Short response to a tiresome and long rant. So what! You got a defective device. If you supposedly work in software (whatever that means). you would know this happens with every manufacturer and there is a simple solution that evidently escaped you. Perhaps rather than trying to sound superior, smug, sarcastic. etc., you could have addressed it the simple way and spared the world your treatise in self-imposed futility. As for buying a Mac, that just makes you a fool or a troll (or both). News Flash: Macs fail too - look up their recall page when you stop thinking you can make a defective Surface not be defective. One more suggestion: if you want to garner sympathy from anyone, you might want to start but not sounding like an arrogant and pompous ass. Seriously, please do read the crap you wrote, and ask yourself whether you would take someone seriously who is that obsessed with trying to sound clever.

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BigDickEnterprise•

Imagine shilling this hard lol

1
Hitman261OP•

I never meant to be taken seriously ;-) so maybe... Just maybe... that's a thing which you completely missed... Take a chill pill. Hug a tree, pet a dog or a cat... Have a beer... And might all your failures have an easily observable mode of failure ;-)

0
zizzyboi96•

sorry to hear about that bro. most likely a defective unit.

I have none of your issues and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my surface pro 8

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Hitman261OP•

Glad that your works ;-) btw basically the procedure I described/followed was agreed upon with the support (you have to try reset with a usb drive as apparently this issue "not able to access boot device" is a common thing that might be a result of a simple OS update...). But they were in the end inconclusive what the issue might have been (possibly SSD but possibly not). It's fine when the unit just dies. But those modes of failure are scary. As it just worked for 5days (well behaved strange from the start).

2
zizzyboi96•

Yeah that's the thing about technology. Anything can happen overnight. One minute it's a beast with no hickups and next minute it's lagging crazy or in your case .. dies. It happens. You should've have went to Microsoft store or returned it from where you bought it from and got a new one or send in for repair since you got the warranty coverage. I'd consider giving it another chance to prove to you it's true worth

1
Elegant_Incident4363•

While you probably had a defective device, my Surface Pro 8 gives me a BSOD on a daily basis when I start work in the morning but then seems to work well for the rest of the day. Ran tests on the SSD and on memory - supposedly all good. Probably unstable Win11 - especially with other software on the machine, although my desktop is (mostly) fine.

I successfully reinstalled from a USB-C stick and, later on, Macrium Reflect backup - all in the space of a month.

My Pro4 is still working reliably, just slowly. Win11 hasn't been a great update but that's another story.

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Tokimemofan•

Honestly seems like a defective ssd

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Sweet-Reputation3822•

That's s real crappy experience.... Aside from terrible battery life that I addressed with a battery pack, Everton is smooth as butter worth mine (i7, 16GB)

Hopefully you give it another try, I used to be a Mac guy. But now I wouldn't trade my SP8 for a Mac.

1