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Most pc's had the nice option to power on a computer automatically when the power is applied (via the bios). With the surface pro 3 this is not an option (absent in the uefi boot menu).

If you are (planning on) using the Surface pro 3 tablet (or any uefi windows tablet?) you will run into this problem if you want to hide the power button of the tablet.

The surface pro 3 does activate when the power is connected when its sleeping. But for us the power could be disconnected for longer periods. The surface pro would go into hibernate mode or the battery would die, and in both of those cases you seem to need the power button to get it back to work.

Wouter Schut
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1 Answers1

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There are 2 ways of going about this: changing the software, or changing the hardware. Personally (and as a software enthusiast) I wouldn't waste the time of rebuilding an entire kernel. I would actually go the hardware-modification route, even with limited experience (about 1 year).

But I'm going to make this sound easy. What you do, is, prop open the casing of the tablet so you can expose the motherboard and the power button.

Here are the materials you will need:

  • a needle-tip soldering iron, one of the smallest ones available.
  • good solder, ordered from online (Amazon) and not RadioShack brand (their solder beads up all the time and doesn't stick)
  • A >5v rated very very large capacitor (at least 3000uf to simulate holding the power button down for at least 3-5 seconds, get multiple/larger capacities just in case! 5500uf should be safe)
  • A 5v relay, to electronically toggle the power button (get some tiny solid-state ones on ebay)
  • Some patience

You will have to disassemble the power button and use your needle-tip to solder on manual leads (touching these leads should trigger the button)

Then, you will split a power V++ wire off the USB cable and attach the capacitor to it (the capacitor will send a 3-5 second pulse to the power button under DC power)

The negative side of the capacitor will connect to the coils on the relay (relay is a mechanical switch, to trip the power button in this case).

The NC (normally closed) switch side of the relay will connect the two leads of the power button.

I hope this helps you. The hardest part is soldering in the power button leads. Hopefully the button can be removed and soldered easily, without touching the ribbon cables. If you can't do the job, then use a DC motor to physically click the button. :) Good luck

Aaron Gillion
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  • This behaviour isn't actually in the kernal,, as other windows 8.x based tablets and computers are able to startup just fine (when connected to power).
    But i can't upvote your answer enough because its a very cool solution. And might definitely help kiosk builders. The surface pro is still a wonderfull device (for the price).
    But we found other tablets which had this option as a default behavior or had a setting to change it (HP elitepad and Dell Venue pro). Although I must confess that the "buy something else" would have been a lame response, that's the one we gave ourselves. ;)     – Wouter Schut Apr 15 '15 at 21:47