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
    2013-12-02T03:41:07+00:00

    I have had my surface pro for 3 days and had to call Microsoft for a recover or (back to factory settings) I noticed in device manager unknown driver or device is present.

    My question is should I wait for the update or swap out the surface pro 2 for a new one? Any idea when the fix will be released if there is one? 

    I knows this Has been discussed just wondering what I should do...

    Thanks for the help

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-01T08:57:26+00:00

    I have a new problem, I don`t know if anyone else try to connect speakers bluetoth..

    Here is the problem, if you connect bluetoth speakers in sp2 and play streamming videos, you can notice how te wifi connection goes down, stop it like a **** miracle.

    this happened to anyone else...

    by te way I already reinstall the final solution and don't have a unkown device issue... I do it because I think o r dream on, the bluetoth issue will go.... but then I wake up....

    please somebody test this in your own flesh and blood, I mean your surface device...

    thanks....

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-30T17:16:29+00:00

    Temporary solution (you have to apply this every time you reset): Reset your device then immediately install the telemetry driver BEFORE running Windows Updates

    Permanent solution (you only have to apply this once): Follow this guide http://systemsadminguy.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/how-to-update-surface-pro-2-recovery-image-drivers/

    I'm using the permanent solution at the moment. Seems to have also resolved a whole bunch of other issues I was having with sleep / crashing.

    I applied this temporary solution successfully, but am still having the same "not waking from sleep" issue.  My work around has been to disable sleep and enable hibernate from all power profiles.  This has worked quite well actually, as waking from hibernation only takes a few seconds longer than waking from sleep.

    Is there any concrete evidence that the Surface Cover Telemetry Driver issue is even related to the sleep wake issue?

    While NOT having the "sleep wake" issue I am still experiencing these WIndows System errors (event viewer):

    • An attempt to configure the input mode of a multitouch device failed.
    • The local Bluetooth adapter has failed in an undetermined manner and will not be used. The driver has been unloaded.

    While I'd like to see these errors gone, they don't seem to be related to the "sleep wake" issue.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-29T23:22:17+00:00

    I telephoned Microsoft today, and asked them the progress of my case number i.e the unknown driver problems, which is associated with firmware update and factory reset. They stated they new about the problem, and stated the information they have from the engineers is that they are working on it and hope to release a firmware update soon to fix the problem, but unfortunately no idea when. Told him they have a few very unhappy customers in there slowness in fixing the issue.

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