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.

Surface | Other

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-10T13:40:31+00:00

    This maybe true, but the only way to get drivers for RT is via Windows Update...that being said, it is Microsoft's job to test and update these drivers. They should also be the ones pushing NVidia for an update not us, the Surface 2 is an Microsoft product after all.

    I think we should all join a MS chat...past the link to this thread and close it...over and over and over....lol

    ..maybe then they'll work faster.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-10T13:31:53+00:00

    Guys, were are here putting all the heat on Microsoft when in the reality the one that has to fix these issues is NVIDIA who is actually the owner and developer of these drivers. So I opened a topic about these problems in their forum:

    https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/636378/geforce-drivers/surface-2-drivers-contantly-crashing/

    Please participate there as well.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-10T12:59:56+00:00

    I'm having issues with audio coming from video files I've downloaded in MP4 format (from a reputable site). Same is true for music. It seems the crackling happens at the highest frequencies.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-10T08:58:08+00:00

    I'm also experiencing the same crackling sound issue when streaming video from Amazon Instant Video on both versions of IE. I hope a fix is coming for this. It's bad enough there's no Amazon Instant Video app, but now I can't stream through the browser either. The constant crackling is unbearable.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T16:51:55+00:00

    Have any of you guys experienced the pixelated screen yet?? I know everyone is having these sound issues but a ton of people are also getting pixel screens and I was just wondering if any of you got that as well... I love the surface 2 but man does thing have a ton of problems... not to mention the loose volume rocker that rattles as well 

    Hi windex52,

     

    The pixelated screen issue is a known one (Surface 2 will randomly freeze and lock up whilst showing a pixelated screen) and the advice is to exchange your surface 2.

     

    This is something I experienced, exchanged and haven't had since. A fix is being worked on for this as well and all investigations I've seen would lead towards a driver issue as those experiencing it do appear to have a lot of nVidia display adaptor warnings/errors.

     

    So my advice would be to take advantage of the exchange being offered, however if you'd rather not exchange, then it would be quite likely a future update will resolve the issue.

     

    Matt

    Thanks for the response Matt, I can see you are only trying to help. Unfortunately I have to dis agree with you about taking advantage of exchanging the surface 2 for a new one. As I commented earlier, I have gone through 3 surface tablets already so I'm done exchanging them. My girlfriends surface tablet also worked perfectly for 15 days before getting the pixel screen. Another guy exchanged his and it worked fine for 10 days and then the replacement got the pixel screen again too. Exchanging the surface does absolutely nothing in solving the problem and I'm sick of Microsoft suggesting that we simply exchange our tablets when something is wrong. There is some REAL problems that ALL surface 2 tablets have and until Microsoft at least admits this, then I'm gonna keep complaining as much as I can with the rest of the people on this thread because like others have said, we are the loyal fans of surface tablets and we deserve better. Again this is all directed at Microsoft and not you Matt, I know your just trying to help and I appreciate your input very much!

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