Surface Pro 2 - Surface cover telemetry driver / blank screen after putting tablet to sleep

Anonymous
2013-10-23T05:19:56+00:00

Hi, 

I just picked up my Surface Pro 2 256GB today and it ran into problems right after applying the firmware update that seemed to have been released just today on Windows Update.  I confirmed this problem was caused by the firmware update because I restored the tablet and the wireless was working fine and I applied the firmware update and that broke the wireless.

After the update, the Marvell AVASTAR Wireless Composite Device stopped working...meaning, the tablet does not recognize the wireless card.  This is confirmed by going into the Device Manager and seeing 2 unknown devices (one of them was the wireless card, the other unrecognized device I will explain in the next paragraph) When I tried running the update driver function, it tried to reinstall the driver but returned the following error.

Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device

Reinstall the drivers for this device (Code 18)

I had to go the manual route and there were 2 Marvell drivers listed and one Microsoft driver listed for the Marvell card.  The 2 marvell drivers listed had exactly the same name.  However, only choosing and applying the second one worked.  So, the wireless was working again.

The other "unknown device" turned out to be something called "Surface Cover Telemetry".  However, trying the same troubleshooting process for the wireless card did not solve the problem and the devices still remains "unknown" in the device manager.  I just left it and carried on with installing my other software and apps as the tablet and the Type Cover 2 seemed to be functioning properly.

However, when I put the tablet to sleep by closing the Type Cover (while on battery power but charged up to 100%), the screen remained blank even though I opened up the cover again and tried to wake the tablet.  I knew that the tablet was still on but the screen remained blank even after I tried touching it, typing on the keyboard as well as briefly tapping the on/off button.  When I touch the Windows icon on the bottom frame of the tablet, I can feel a slight vibration and that told me that the tablet was on but the screen somehow is totally off.

I decided to do a soft reset of the tablet by holding on the on/off button for more then 10 seconds.  However, the screen only worked properly after many attempts.

My questions are, could it be that this "unknown device" that needs the "Surface Cover Telemetry" driver is causing this blank screen problem?  And if so, where can I download a driver that works?

Thanks.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-01-17T09:58:21+00:00

    Off topic, but still: Apart from these issues, the SP2 is a fantastic device, I must say. I worked around this way for now: Went into energy settings, advanced settings, and activated hibernate mode when power button pressed (power button behaviour) and told it to include hibernate mode in power-off options menu. Not perfect, I would prefer to use just "energy saving" and its possibility to go to hibernate (deep sleep) after a set time - and stay in sleep/energy saving without waking accidentally.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-17T06:42:42+00:00

    Simple solution: My surface pro 1 & 2 are going back to Microsoft and they are going to give me two brand new ones.

    you're totally right. Moreover I experienced some serious issues with the battery (huge drain while in standby, battery not charging) and the clock (wrong date/time until I restarted the system).

    I chatted with support, and we agreed that a replacement is the best option for me. I should receive a new one by next week.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-17T03:16:50+00:00

    Simple solution: My surface pro 1 & 2 are going back to Microsoft and they are going to give me two brand new ones.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-15T11:09:55+00:00

    I'm very disappointed: the patch we were expecting from yesterday has not come, and all the SP2 issues are still there.

    I'm going to contact MS support.

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