Rubber feet issues from the Surface Book 2 base
Good evening, Quick disclamer: I am not here seeking for support. I already went through costumer support and am only here to report on the proceeding done over the issue so that the experience can be shared with the team behind designing and engineering the device. I acquired my Surface Book 2 15'' in April 2018 in pre-order for the PT-PT variant of the device. The device ran without issues for the first months. First thing that I noticed was that the rubber feet installed on the base of the Book seemed to be bigger than the notch machined to acommodate them. The tip bulged a bit and was sitting about 0.5mm off the notch. It's understandable that being the two parts made of different materials under tight tolerances might end up making the two not fit exactly well on the final product, specially given that these were made for the first time for a 15'' variant of the Book. In late November that same tip started peeling off from the Book's base, which I simply pressed back into place to glue it again. The feet usually "snapped" to get over the 0.5mm difference in size between the feet and the notch. The same happened to the pair. As soon as dirt started getting glued to the gap created, it became more difficult to snap the feet tip back in place. With each subsequent heating and cooling from recharging/GPU activity, the unglueing of the rubber feet kept getting worse. After a few weeks the two rubber feet were detaching from the base on about 40% on one side and starting to peel off on the other. Due to repetitive reattachement of the unglued stretchs, the rubber feet started developing stress ruptures. It was at this moment, in February, that I contacted Microsoft online support to seek help for this issue. After contact with a member of support for Microsoft Portugal Surface Support, this is what I learned: - Replacement rubber feet and tape glue parts were not available for warranty maintenance nor purchase by the user to install; - Rubber feet damage was considered outside damage and are not covered by warranty; - Removing the feet and replacing them by a user solution wouldn't void the warranty since it did not interfere with the internals of the computer and would be considered aftermarket personalization (like applying skins or decals to the surface of the device); - Even if replacement of the feet wouldn't void warranty, the damaged feet should be kept in reservation so that in case of failure of the device due to hardware issues both the device and the feet can be sent together for maintenance; - The DIY feet should be removable if necessary. Given the conclusions taken from the chat with the Surface Costumer Service, I decided to remove the damaged feet and glueing tape from the device and, as instructed, were reserved. I then designed and manufactured two new feet in brushed stainless steel and glued it to the device. It has been working without issues for two months already. After this experience, I suggest the Surface team to review design and engineering of the rubber feet on the Surface Book's base, particularly the Surface Book 2 15'' variant with PT-PT keyboard layout, to check for eventual issues in manufacturing, tolerances, fit and finish of the feet in the base of the device. I also would recommend reviewing the effectiveness of the solution over repeated use, both in terms of the feet's fatigue resistance to abrasion and heating cycles of the device. Alternatives solutions should be considered. Given the nature of the part in question, providing replacement parts for existing devices should be considered by labelling the rubber feet as a "consumable" (like the rubber tires of a car). This concludes my report of the situation. If any more details are needed for further development feel free to ask.
Surface book 2, screen dimming with 30 seconds of inactivity.
Hi all, Not sure if windows issue or with my surface book 2. hoping someone can let me know how to turn off screen dimming due to inactivity after 30 seconds. hasn't been too much of an issue but today I wanted to watch a movie and couldn't see it properly because the screen would dim. I've tried all the power saver settings and turned off all screen savers. It does it whether plugged or on battery.
Touch locks up, round faded-center dots across screen with cursor stuck in one
So it isn't Vivaldi doing this. Last night it happened in the Qobuz music app. I tapped a track to play, and got a stripe of the faded-center dots across the screen - the position of the Vivaldi dot, plus lots more to the left of it. No zooming in Qobuz, the app was just totally locked up, and nothing touch could do would escape. I brought over my keyboard and mouse. Qobuz remained locked up, but everything else worked, and the dots remained visible. I didn't see this in Vivaldi without a mouse, but there was a cursor stuck over the rightmost dot, in addition to the actively moving cursor. (The image is from a bit of phone video - screenshots didn't show either cursor.) The dots remained visible when I switched users, but the stuck cursor pointed to a different one: They stayed visible through the entire shutdown process, even over the colored screens with the shutdown steps. And when Windows came back, my taskbar was extra wide and locked. As before, nothing in Windows logs, or Qobuz log. Could this be a GPU problem? Qobuz uses it, but I've set Vivaldi not to. At least I think I have... The "GPU Process" still shows, but it is ~50 MB instead of ~500 MB. I think Windows is out of control...Windows Hello & External 3D Webcams
My Surface Book spends much of its time running "lid-closed" while connected (through a Surface Dock) to a pair of 34" LG monitors. Of course, that means that I can't use the Surface Book's depth-sensing camera for Windows Hello logins -- and Windows Hello is something that I REALLY like about Windows 10 and the Surface Book! No problem, I thought, since there are a few external 3D webcams on the market that support Windows Hello. So I purchased a Creative BlasterX Senz3D webcam for this purpose. This should allow me to mount a 3D webcam atop one of my monitors and keep my Windows Hello login. WRONG!!! Unfortunately, the Windows Hello Settings does NOT provide the ability to choose a specific webcam. It exclusively uses the built-in webcam on the Surface Book, meaning Windows Hello is looking at a black picture from the closed lid of the Surface Book at login time. Is a fix in the works for this? At the very least, the Windows Hello Settings should be permit switching between available video sources. An even better solution would be the ability to specify a separate webcam when running "lid open" vs "lid closed" or "Docked" vs "Undocked".
Where can I complain about HW product quality (Surface Book)?
First of all, I have to mention that I was a great fan of my Surface Book, until a few monts ago. 8 months ago, the HW warranty of my surface book ran out. Over the last 3-4 months, my surface book display bulged more and more, the glass of the screen disconnected from the edge, the frame is bent.. And I was not even using it as tablet. It was mostly connected to the docking station. Here are some enlighting pictures and a video: https://youtu.be/1sTr8U0F1Bs Microsoft apparently offers an exchange with refurbished surface books. But frankly, why should I pay another CHF 600 when I paid almost CHF 3000 for a product with this bad quality? Is there a place I can complain about the bad quality of that product? DanSurface Book/Surface Dock USB Power
Is anyone else having issues with their Surface Book and/or Surface Dock USB power? In the past, I have seen issues with the USB ports on the dock when using them to charge my phone (I have since stopped). I use my Surface to record low level screen captures (like BIOS screens) using a USB capture device from Epiphan. I have never had an issue in the past with the device getting enough power from the USB port. I recently got another one (same model) from my new employer and was going to use it to get some BIOS screen shots on a new Dell test laptop. However, I could not get it to work plugged into my Surface Book or Surface Dock. At first I thought it might be a driver issue since Device Manager kept enumerating the devices when it was plugged in. No conflicts or interupts. Nothing in the device events or event logs. Reloaded Windows 10 1703 and even went back to 1607 - same issue. Both the Surface Book and Dock are running the latest firmware. Just by chance I decided to pick up a powered USB 3.0 hub and give it a shot. Sure enough, plugged it into the Surface Book and the capture device into the hub and it worked fine. So, it seems like the USB ports are under powered or limited some how. Maybe something that changed in a newer firmware. I am happy to discuss more with someone from the Surface team (if any one from that team in here). Otherwise, hopefully this will save someone else some trouble with USB devices that require a certain amount of power.Surface book Miracast?
Hi there. Running a Surface Book (i5, 8GB RAM, dGPU) and I am having an issue where I can never seem to connect to Miracast devices. I have tried 2 or 3 different devices where I am connecting using the "Connect to a wireless monitor" option under the windows+P command with no luck. It finds the device and starts the connection and in some instances says "Connected" but then nothing happens or it seems to reset or stop. Normal Screen sharing using cable works fine so I know it's not a resolution issue. Or at least think it's not a resolution issue. Any thoughts?
