Surface 2 Speaker/Sound Problems

Anonymous
2013-10-23T17:22:07+00:00

I just purchased two new Surface 2's and I am noticing a significant reduction in volume from the speakers compared to my old Surface RT.  The speakers also lack any kind of bass.  They are very "tinny" and shallow sounding.  When using headphones, there is plenty of bass sound and the volume level is not an issue.

I am also experienceing a significant amount of sound crackling (from the speakers and attached headphones) when streaming video from Amazon Instant Video using both the desktop and metro versions of IE.  I do not experience this crackling problem with other sound sources like Xbox music, gaming, or other website streaming video (i.e. YouTube).

Since I was experiencing this on two different Surface 2's, it seems unlikely that this is a hardware issue.  This is most likely a software/driver issue.  Is there anything that I can do to resolve this problem, other than wait for a possible software or firmware update?

Thanks.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-26T13:36:15+00:00

    You should be able to see all the drivers if you try and update the drivers and select the let me choose option instead of the automatic update. Unfortunately it seems the only way to go back to either of the previous drivers is to uninstall with the delete drivers option selected on both the device and the codec. This leaves you with no sound, then you have to update the device and codec manually to the 8/14 driver, then manually again to the 10/13 driver. If you want to go back to the quiet driver you have to run the update above from Windows Update.

    At least this has been my experience.

    the problem is that I'm stuck in 8/24 I can see the 10/13 but I can't install it manually every time I try it ends failing. What should I do in that case? Uninstall the 8/24 and codec with deletion? After uninstalling do you do a restart?

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-26T13:27:10+00:00

    Okay, small update on my issues.  As someone else suggested, I "refreshed" the Surface 2 and then did an update.  There were 23 updates and it took a good 40 minutes.  After the update the sound problem did not correct itself in that it is still low volume.  However, its good enough to watch a movie (as long as there isn't any other sounds in the room) about 4-5 feet away from the surface. 

    The good thing with the refresh, apparently I corrected another issue I was having.  I was always getting a little yellow exclamation point over my internet connection icon.  The internet still worked, but apparently something wasn't perfect with the connection.  After the update, that went away. :)

    Waiting on new drivers from NVIDIA . . .      I feel sorry for all you music lovers out there.  I use my Surface mostly for reading stuff.  If I was a music nut, I'm be going crazy.

    After the low volume issue is corrected, my Surface will be perfect.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-26T13:11:56+00:00

    You should be able to see all the drivers if you try and update the drivers and select the let me choose option instead of the automatic update. Unfortunately it seems the only way to go back to either of the previous drivers is to uninstall with the delete drivers option selected on both the device and the codec. This leaves you with no sound, then you have to update the device and codec manually to the 8/14 driver, then manually again to the 10/13 driver. If you want to go back to the quiet driver you have to run the update above from Windows Update.

    At least this has been my experience.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-26T13:08:42+00:00

    Okay, this is just weird.

    I restore my surface 2, and then do the 22 updates, windows reboots and the driver version is still 9.17.13.2674. If I try to install the 9.17.13.2757 - [10/23/2013] driver manually (its listed when I select let me pick the driver) it says it installed okay, but its still stays 9.17.13.2674 8/14/2013

    So i did a full refresh, same thing.

    So I did another one...this time I uninstalled the audio before windows updates. it then does not detect the driver and gives error code 18, your driver needs to be re-installed...I'm like no **** argggg...resetting again but I don't think anythings going to change

    anyhow...I think my windows image is broken...too bad Microsoft doesn't provide a recovery image for download for the Surface 2....or least post drivers for DOWNLOAD like every other version of Windows!!...sigh. I wonder what would happen if I used windows 8.0 recovery for the RT on a Surface 2...hrmmm

    Very sad that I may have to exchange for a SOFTWARE issue...soo stupid.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-26T12:22:26+00:00

    I have 3 versions available for the NVIDIA Tegra Audio:

    9.17.13.2674 [8/14/2013] - Starting Driver

    9.17.13.2752 [10/13/2013] - Loud sound, quality not good depending what you listen to. Requires update from Windows Update

    9.17.13.2757 - [10/23/2013] - Forces enhanced sound off. Best quality. About half volume of previous driver. Required Windows Update - System Hardware Update 11/12/2013

    Every time I uninstall the devices, I get the first two available and the 11/12 hardware update becomes available. Personally I am going to go back to the 2752 version because I prefer the volume over the minor sound quality improvement for what I listen to. I will try the next update and see what happens.

    How do you go back and forward thru all version? Uninstalling with deleting? Disabling? What's the trick?

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