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
    2013-11-09T19:20:49+00:00

    Hello,

    I was struggling with the same problem after October update for Surface Pro 2. Windows Update method worked fine only during first update - from that point everytime the same problem with unknown device.

    I called support hotline - no progress.

    I went to Microsoft Store - store employee spent 2 hrs - no progress here too.

    Here is workaround for this problem which works everytime for me.

    1. Restore you SP2 to factory state (you should see one device with exclamation mark - Surface Cover Telemetry).
    2. DO NOT use Windows Update to update your device yet !!!
    3.  Download drivers from here:

    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40856

    1. Deploy drivers using script from here:

    http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2013/05/16/deploying-drivers-and-firmware-to-surface-pro.aspx

    1. Check if warning form Surface Cover Telemetry disappeared (should be gone).
    2. Reboot device.
    3. Update your SP2 using Windows Update.

    There you go. No more problems with devices.

    Hopefully MS will fix update process soon.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T13:26:45+00:00

    I got a a copy (by email) of a reply in the thread mentioning explicitly a bunch of similar (related?) problems after installing the Junos Pulse VPN client. I just wanted to mention that I went to the exact same steps, got the same problems and even tried twice to have a confirmation that the VPN client was indeed causing major problems.

    After recovering using a recovery point save, I am stuck with the same problem: unknown device that seems related to the "surface cover telemetry" thing.

    Hope MS fixes this, aside from this and the maybe related intermittent touch cover not responding from time to time (sometimes it stops just for 5-10 seconds), the device is great and I love it.

    Eric

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T13:17:35+00:00

    Greetings everyone,

    We are actively investigating this issue and will work on a resolution to ensure our customers have the best possible experience on their Surface device.

    Are you going to notify your front line support people and special customer care team?  They keep sending me replacement after replacement with all the same problems and won't confirm this is a known issue.  What do I do?  Do I keep going on with these replacements?

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T13:14:57+00:00

    How about a timeline for the fix?  Will you be extended the return policy.  I don't consider this a stable device until this is fixed and none of your support staff will confirm any of these issues and just keep sending out replacements with the same unknown device, sleep/wake issues, crashing, etc...

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