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
    2013-12-16T03:59:27+00:00

    Well, I did what I shouldn't have done, reset my Surface. No "unknown device" after the reset but my WiFi didn't work, even after multiple restarts. That was the last straw. So what did I do, I made my way back to Best Buy and returned it for the second time. Then I went home and got on Amazon and bought the Dell Venue 8 Pro for $267. Yes, a $600 savings. Not as fast as the Surface Pro 2 but lighter, smaller, and never needed to "duck tape" the software myself. Plus, it's the full Windows 8.1, not RT.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-16T03:45:14+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.

    This is WORKING solution. Follow this steps and you'll get rid of this problem.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-14T09:35:20+00:00

    Another problem occured; Surface Cover Telemetry driver not installed (code 28).  After some messing about and trying to get both of the working, I was able to manually reinstall the wifi device driver.  But as to the Surface Cover Telemetry driver, I have no idea how to fix this.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-14T07:57:25+00:00

    Hi:

    After I have intalled the latest firmware update, I realized that I have lost my device driver for both bluetooth and wifi adapter.  Tried various ways to reinstall, includes uninstall the device and restarting the computer and refresh to factory state.  Non of them seems to work, I had to completely wipe clean the computer and start new.

    But when I tried to reinstall the latest firmware update, same thing happened, lost my device again.

    Any ideas?  I am currently holding off the latest firmware for now.

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