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
    2013-11-22T18:18:54+00:00

    Can someome articulate the exact problem and impact of this missing 'surface cover telemetry' device driver?

    From my personal experience of this unknown device, right now I cannot use both touch cover 2 and type cover 2 keyboards (I have both of them), therefore I have to rely on the touch screen keyboard to do all key input.

    For the rest of the people on this forum having this missing device driver issue, are you also having exactly the same problem like me?

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-22T16:30:49+00:00

    As I said before I contacted Microsoft and the ensure me they know about the problem with the telemetry drivers, plus unknown drivers for both wifi and Bluetooth. I received a phone call from Microsoft stating their engineers are working on this and should have a fix shortly. At present the problem is a minor inconvenience and I can live with it for a shot while but if no fix posted within 3 weeks I will chase Microsoft again and let you know their response.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-22T14:47:08+00:00

    I have also had to reset my Surface Pro 2 512GG model and applied all updates. It now also has the Surface cover telemetry driver error and I can not determine how to fix it. Has Microsoft came up with a solution for this issue?

    Thanks.

    This is how you fix it permanently. The steps below fixed mine and others.

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

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-22T14:42:42+00:00

    I am also experiencing this problem

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