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
    2013-11-25T23:38:35+00:00

    SanAndreaz, try this fix. It may resolve all your issues having the latest drivers when your SP2 is reset.

    http://systemsadminguy.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/how-to-update-surface-pro-2-recovery-image-drivers/

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-25T15:59:00+00:00

    I also have an unknown device listed in Device Manager.

    I also experience blank screen issue exactly the same as you described after not using it for a while, it's fully charged, Windows Logo vibrated when touch and the back lights of the type cover was on, the screen just wouldn't light up. Additionally, I got Event ID 41 in Event Viewer after I eventually make it on by totally random tries.

    This link shows people had similar issue:

    http://forums.wpcentral.com/microsoft-surface-pro-2/248304-major-problems-surface-pro-2-unexpected-shutdowns-sleep-issues-unknown-devicedevice-manager.html

    What's worse, before it rebooted and went to sleep, it also failed to detect my external monitor after Windows Update! I uninstalled the updates but not works, even a System Reset does not work. But after the blank out and I put it to sleep then I try connect it to the external monitor, it detected the monitor all of a sudden!

    So for now I would just disable Windows Update and will not reopen it until this issue is confirmed fixed.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-24T20:39:51+00:00

    I can use my type 2 keyboard ok.  The only problem I have is that it will not always wake up from sleep mode quickly and I have to press on button.

    I am having this same problem: when I close the cover, it sleeps. When I open the cover, the screen does not wake, but the keyboard works and if I hit a key the screen turns on. This is with a SP2 and Touch Cover 2.

    Do any of the fixes on this page fix this issue? Or are all these fixes just to get rid of the missing driver? I don't want to go through all the steps listed here if my screen still won't come on when I open the touch cover 2.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-23T17:42:42+00:00

    I was able to get the Telemetry driver working after a restore as follows:

    Perform another full restore. Prior to applying any updates via Windows Update manually install the telemetry and touch/type cover drivers from the Surface Pro 2 Driver Pack via Device Manager. Reboot. Run Windows Update and install the listed updates. After the next reboot WiFi will not be working, reboot once again and both the Telemetry/Cover and WiFi should be ok.

    Can't take any credit if this works for anyone else, I pieced this together from other posts in this thread. I believe that the proper fix is to repair the restore image as outlined above (thanks to those that went through all the hard work) but hopefully this will tie you over until MS releases the next round of updates.

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