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
    2013-12-26T20:26:00+00:00

    I have to agree that for £1,000+ (£, not $ here in Blighty), it is a major let-down and should not have happened. Given the amount of time and stress that this has taken up/caused, some gesture of goodwill (voucher in the Store for example) wouldn't go amid, especially as it's us the users who seem to have worked out a fix for it. But to return or not return is up to you. Personally, I cant find anything better in terms of spec, portability, battery and screen quality. Any ideas? I'm all ears. Happy Holidays...

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-26T05:52:05+00:00

    Personally I believe everyone should return these things to where they bought them if they can. This tablet was obviously not tested thoroughly and has major issues. I made an actual image of the 2nd unit I exchanged and still, even after a image restore that was created right when turning it on, the driver was missing. That is embarrassingly incompetent of Microsoft and definitely no excuse for a $1000 plus device since the tech in it (functionality) is now been for around for close to a decade.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-24T20:51:37+00:00

    I just reinstalled my SP2 but Windows Update doesn't contain December Firmware update anymore. In my case this update was fixing problem where I couldn't turn device on.

    Today I spent 10 minutes just to turn this piece of sh...t on. I was just this little bit close to throw it out.

    At least WiDi seems to be working stable. Still can't get 5.1 sound but it seems to be different story.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-24T04:11:22+00:00

    Was able to get my SP2 256 GB back to what seems to be working order after much help from this post and others.  Can't help but rub in that MS was of ZERO help with the issue.  I even went as far as pointing out the driver issue to the MS tech serve crew who claimed to have no idea what I was talking about.  I would like to add that I was able to get my machine back to the point where WiFi, Bluetooth and the Type Cover 2 are all working, at least for now.  I was able to do this without resetting to factory (again).  By doing the partial reset and installing the telemetry & type cover drivers before anything else tried to update itself it worked.  As other posters have mentioned at first WiFi was disabled, but after another rest it is back.  VERY frustrating to take my lovely portable SP2 on the road and discover, repeatedly that I can not use the keyboard or some other basic feature has gone completely wonky.  Never have I had so much trouble with a. new machine.  I am also disabling the 'allow the computer to turn off this device to save power' feature of the Marvell AVASTAR 350N Wireless in device manager.  I hope this helps solve some of the dire power drain problems which we have all come to know since the dreaded firmware update.  Users in other forums have mentioned it helps.  At present battery drain is so bad it makes my old Win7 ASUS tablet seem like a marathon runner.   Best of luck to all.

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