System Firmware Update - 12/10/13 fails to install

Anonymous
2013-12-10T19:14:53+00:00

Got the updates on todays patch Tuesday, but the firmware update failed to load.  Rechecking for an update does not give the opportunity to try and reinstall.

Anyone else having this problem?  I do notice that my telemetry driver is now loaded. so not sure what is going on here.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

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Anonymous
2013-12-19T06:53:02+00:00

Josh,

We are working through the holidays to deliver a fix for the small number of customers that have experience decreased battery life and booting/sleeping problems as a result of the December update.  We took the update down to prevent additional customers from ending up in this state. All hardware failures, none of which are known to be caused by the December update, are being handled promptly through our warranty exchange policy.

The UEFI firmware that we released in the December update prevents some devices from entering sleep mode (and other low power states) properly during periods of inactivity. In order to release an updated version of the UEFI firmware we need to test the new version with the other drivers in the set to make sure we are not releasing yet another unknown state to customer machines. We certainly feel your pain and assure you that we are doing everything possible to make this right, as quickly as we can.

Thank you,

Tim

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Anonymous
2014-02-15T00:49:31+00:00

Greetings all,

We understand that the February Firmware Update has fixed the Battery gauge issue and the Firmware showing as failed. However we can see that there are some customers who are still experiencing issues with their Surface Pro 2 going into Sleep mode and Hibernate.

So we can better track those particular issues, we have decided to close this thread off. We encourage you to create a thread related to your Surface Pro 2 not going to sleep or not going into Hibernate. Please give as much detail as possible to your scenario.

We understand that the February Firmware update did not resolve the issue with waking from Sleep or Hibernate, as it was not intended to fix that particular issue. We are continuing to work to deliver a high quality solution. More updates will become available as this effort progresses.

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Anonymous
2014-02-13T22:35:08+00:00

The February update has resolved all issues for me.  The firmware installed with no issues.  Prior to this, I had all sorts of problems with the December firmware.  Sleep and hibernate issues were rampant.  The January update helped a bit, but the battery meter was always getting off calibration. 

With the February update, all issues have been resolved and my Surface 2 128gb is working as it was prior to the December updates.  Very solid and all is back to normal.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-02-13T10:50:12+00:00

    Dear Steven_B,

    I can't afford the luxury to be on-board another leaking vessel for another month. The failed Dec update was fun while I had the spare time, and we learned a lot about our SP2 in that time frame, others may disagree nor be so convenienced. I know I went from someone who loved my SP2 to not being able to trust it. Could you please give the reasons as to why the lab-rating phases falls to us users? An insight into how the Microsoft smart update works perhaps would help us understand why these problems occur. I'm only suggesting a speculation here. Personally however, I would love to hear about the Jurassic high CPU when boot with microSD card inserted.

    It is unfortunate so many of us have had issues with the device after December. Since my replacement my device is working fine, but I am not installing this February update for at least another week due to a lack of trust.

    Might I ask what type of microSD card you have installed? I have never seen this high CPU problem when booting from a microSD card. At least I was never able to reproduce or verify it. My first Surface Pro 2 did have a lot of the symptoms of waking up on its own and getting very warm, and unreliable battery meter, but I never saw the high CPU. My current new device has no issues.

    My SP2 has high CPU when boot with microSD card inserted.

    I have unsuccessfully tested a lot of microSD cards with my SP2 (on the contrary I have no problem with my SP1). Perhaps (I hope) it is a firmware-driver issue.

    In any case I would like to ask you the same thing: what type of microSD card are you using?

    Have you installed some kind of audio software-driver?

    (I have seen that the high CPU issue is affected if I open/use sound recorder, for example)

    I am not interested in "hibernation" and "sleep", I prefer to "switch off" my SP2, (I have deleted hibernation file in order to obtain disk space).

    With windows 8 (but now it seems unavailable in windows 8.1) I have simply set the screen brightness level to 5% after 5 minutes of inactivity.

    The use of my microSD card is a priority, instead.

    It's troublesome for me to have an attached usb pendrive while I use the SP2 in motion.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-13T10:30:29+00:00

    Greetings,

    Just to confirm, it is not possible to roll back firmware. I've seen posts that say the Battery meter issue is fixed, and posts that say it is not. Please ensure that you have installed all Windows Updates, and checked again if you are not sure, to ensure that all updates are installed.

    I have not see any posts around Firmware showing as failed in Windows Update, which is what this thread was originally about.

    I have seen a few posts that the Surface now Sleeps or enters Hibernate correctly, and some that are saying it is not happening.

    So I can correctly pass information back to the appropriate teams, I need a direct, Yes these (above) are working now, or No they are not.

    I think it's dangerous just to deal in Yes/No answers.  For the failed 12/10/13 firmware update, some nuances were obviously overlooked and it will be more of the same if the details get lost again.  The devil is in the details.

    Since MS just wants Yes/No, here's my Yes, No.  YES the 2/11/14 firmware is listed as successfully installed and all updates since 12/11/13 have been successfully installed (Windows Update History eradicated before then to recover from 12/10/13 firmware update failure)..  And NO (since we only deal in Yes and No), the "successful" firmware update did not solve all my Sleep/Shutdown problems.

    Since the 2/11/14 firmware update, I've had THREE Event 41 system crashes.  One when my system was set to sleep.  Two when the system was shutdown and crashed on reboot and had to be manually shutdown, triggering the Event 41's.

    Yes - my battery stats appear correct and have always been correct since I got my SP2 10/22/13 except for one instance pre-2/11/14 firmware where a critical battery action level shutdown triggered a continuous 5% battery charge report even on AC until Volume Up/Power Button were held together (reboot did not fix).

    The problem is most of the time everything is working great but even after the 2/11/14 firmware update, my SP2 can be flaky who knows when, e.g., the three Event 41 crashes.

    Illustrated by some "statistics" I did just to see what happens in a short series of repetitive trials (one after the other).  Tested Sleep, Hibernation, Shutdown, and cover removal/reattachment while system on.  System sleeping, hibernating,  or shutdown for > 1 min each time before reawakening.

    10/10 times system went to sleep/woke up successfully by closing Type 2 Cover.

    10/10 times system went to sleep/woke up successfully by Settings Charm, Power Button

    10/10 times system hibernated/woke up successfully by closing Type 2 Cover with close action changed to hibernate

    Only 9 of 10 times did system successfully shutdown and properly reboot.  1 of 10 times on awakening with the Power button, after the Surface logo, the screen went dark, showed only a mouse cursor, and the system had to be manual shutdown (triggering an Event 41).

    10 of 10 times the Type 2 Cover could be removed and replaced while on the Start Screen or classic desktop (in the past I've had occasional crashes causing a reboot while removing or reattaching my Type 2 cover while the SP2 was on)

    So if we're only allowed Yes/No answers, I'd say No, the 2/11/14 firmware is not a complete fix as I've still had issues with Sleeping and Shutdown even though they rarely occur (1 Sleep issue, 1 Shutdown issue since 2/11/14 outside my repetitive trial run in addition to the one shutdown flakeout within the trials).

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