Source
r/Surface•
caliber

Surface Pro 8 owners, do you experience any random glitches that aren't widely discussed in reviews?

[PRO8]

I had Surface Pros from the earlier generations.

I found that they had a lot of quirks and glitches that didn't show up in reviews. Like I remember sometimes the keyboard or touchpad would stop responding suddenly until tearing off the keyboard and reconnecting it. Or sometimes the keyboard would act as if I was holding down modifier keys like Ctrl or Win when I wasn't and cause everything to go nuts.

I also had problems like sometimes they wouldn't want to turn on, and I'd have to do a lot of holding power buttons and coaxing to get them to work again. Alternatively, sometimes they would turn on by themselves in my bag, getting hot and draining their battery.

Do these things still happen?

After owning your Surface Pro 8s for a while now, is there anything else you've found that wouldn't be in reviews?

Posted Aug 6, 2022, 2:15 AM UTC

728
sgtquackers66•

I have had mine since November of 2021 and haven't noticed any random glitches like what you are talking about. Overall the reviews were pretty accurate.

6
J-Zitze•

Have also not noticed those problems yet. I used it since 2021.

1
Thotaz•

2 glitches come to my mind, I don't know if they were mentioned in any reviews though:

  • Sometimes when playing videos inline on a webpage like on Reddit the whole screen goes black until I hide the video again or close the tab. This is almost certainly a driver issue related to the dynamic refresh rate.
  • Sometimes when waking the device up it stays at a very low clock speed and runs very slow. Putting it to sleep and waking it back up fixes the issue. Sometimes it's simply a bit slow to get up to speed after wake so animations are a bit laggy. I assume this is a firmware issue.
4
Nick1299•

Disabling hardware acceleration in browser fixed the reddit black screen glitch for me

2
RealDaedalus11:Pro:Surface Pro•

I would recommend downloading and installing the latest Intel-graphic drivers directly from the Intel site - not through Windows update.

That solved for me similar issues in that regard (at least for now it looks like it is successfully solved).

2
Mediocre-Fennel-6394•

That sounds like a cool adventure for some but this should not be an acceptable solution for a machine worth a couple grand new.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
8000bene70•

Windows 11 destroyed itself completely, no chance for recovery, had to do a fresh install.

Also I had a strange bug, where the tablet mode without type cover would only engage if the type cover was connected during boot.

3
Iod42•

For some reason the reddit website sometimes just goes to black completely, it never happens right away but it does after scrolling for a while and no matter if landscape or tablet mode.

3
RealDaedalus11:Pro:Surface Pro•

Try installing latest intel graphic drivers, directly downloaded from Intel website.

1
Iod42•

Already had that before. I tried turning off the hardware acceleration from chrome and it worked.

3
CadillacXT4•

Worst surface device I gave owned. Doesn't stay asleep if told always on while powered on. Camera wakes up and crashes so you can't get in. Latest firmware update broke bit locker and my drive is no longer encrypted. Surface is super hot when asleep and plugged in. It's doing nothing. Recently happened since June. I'm waiting for my third replacement on this device. Other surfaces since the 1 were never this bad almost a year in.

2
TmoneyJazz•

Had the keyboard glitch you mentioned except it wouldn't recognize my slim pen 2 until I restarted. I've had my surface pro 8 for about two weeks now and this just happened this morning. It's a little disappointing but nothing too concerned about at the moment.

2
iListen2Sound•

Not really except for some weird chromatic aberration when I'm watching a movie through an external display. It doesn't show up until maybe half an hour in

2
RealDaedalus11:Pro:Surface Pro•

I am facing some issues with hardware acceleration enabled as explained in this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/whk62n/surface_pro_8_issues_with_hardware_acceleration/

Edit: As discussed in that thread, installing latest intel graphic drivers directly from the Intel website seems to have fixed the issue.

2
UniquePotato•

No, but I get the blue screen of death at least once a week. I’m guessing this is more Windows 11 though.

2
RealDaedalus11:Pro:Surface Pro•

Would be surprised by that to be honest. I haven't had a bluescreen in Windows for many years now and neither in Windows 11. I have also not read that that would be a known widespread issue.

2
UniquePotato•

I’m not sure, my previous pro 6 went for years on Win10 without a hitch.

1
TheYield•

My SP8 has been a lot more consistent and bug free since I've reinstalled the firmware package from MS downloads, the SP8 W11 package specifically. I also did a DISM, SFC and Chkdsk combo to validate my W11 install while I was at it.

My top issue was falling out of 120hz even though it was selected. Needing to double tap the power button to wake the device (due to MS's terrible sleep functionality) has been a factor as well.

2
Zinjifrah•

The only issue I'm having (owning mine for only a few weeks) is that sometimes it doesn't sleep when closed, which then causes it to heat up significantly. Not sure if some system process is running but haven't really dedicated the time to figuring it out.

2
ClassicVaultBoy:Pro:SP4 i7 8GB & SP8 i5 16GB•

I have some occasional glitches with the Netflix app from Microsoft Store that mess up completely the screen, never seen it with any other app and didn’t encounter other glitches so I guess it’s an issue with Netflix.

2
RealDaedalus11:Pro:Surface Pro•

Try installing the latest intel graphics driver directly from the Intel website.

1
ClassicVaultBoy:Pro:SP4 i7 8GB & SP8 i5 16GB•

I have them already with variable refresh rate. Never had issues with YouTube, Amazon prime or Netflix online. It must be their store app

2
RealDaedalus11:Pro:Surface Pro•

ok

1
hitechpilot•

The lockscreen sometimes wouldn't display the login button and textbox, just the background.

2
mikesdeman•

I have had this too and also sometimes, usually on battery, windows hello just fails to open the camera.

2
yasc_•

Sometimes while using the pen in OneNote or MS Journal and having the keyboard detached the pen suddenly stops working. When this happens I have to attach the keyboard and put the pen in it's charging slot for a second to make it work again.

2
wizozzie•

Yes. I have a SP8 i7/16G/1T and sometimes Edge glitches at the bottom of the screen as if there's something wrong with the graphics chip.

I also see weird screen tearing at times randomly. It's infuriating.

2
kenspencerbrown•

This is more a design issue than a "glitch," but because of the positioning of the power button (on the right side in standard "laptop" horizontal mode), it's very easy to accidentally hit the power button when using it in portrait mode, which puts the button on the bottom right. Resting it on your lap or a pillow usually turns the device off. This is my only (admittedly minor) complaint about the device.

2
cassillac•

That’s why I’m scrolling through this Reddit. The camera on mine randomly turns on but won’t work for Face ID. While I’m in the middle of actively using it, the screen turns off and won’t turn back on even when I press the power button.

2
Hitman261•

SP8 32GB RAM version:
+1 on the random black screen issue.
But the whole device FW is quite crappy honestly.
Bought one of the first of those 32GB RAM devices that was available in Europe -> That thing died completely after 4 days (I think the motherboard issue).

New one which I obtained a few months after that incident has following issues:
- Thunderbolt external soundcard can and does BSOD crash the Surface (doesn't crash other 2 notebooks that have TB).

- It's sometimes impossible to start the device (multiple hard reset procedures)

- When starting the device sometimes the boot logo (Windows white logo) "swims" around the screen in the very left side (looks very funny, like the screensavers from 90's
Like this https://repository-images.githubusercontent.com/344610266/246c3a80-7cf0-11eb-92d0-fe1d20e11982)

- Doesn't even help to disable HW for the random (external) black screen issue as there are other apps besides the browser that cause this. It happens each 10-15 minutes. And is quite painful when recording music (Reaper) or so....

And yes, I have latest drivers and no I will not reinstall my windows for 3rd time to try if this time it does the trick... :-)

Honestly, for being a "pro" device I expected more.
I'm lucky to still have SP4 that still works and is more reliable

2
Mediocre-Fennel-6394•

I have ran into so many glitches with my surface pro 8 I just made a post about it because I am concerned and to the point where I don't want to use it anymore because it constantly interrupts my workflow by needing a reboot.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfacePro8/comments/ydz0eq/surface\_pro\_8\_filled\_with\_so\_many\_bugs/

2