Heads up: Microsoft’s freshly released Surface drivers are causing problems for some Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book users, prompting driver errors. This is just the latest in a long series of firmware updates causing problems on Microsoft’s line of tablets.
Microsoft’s alert announcing the April 2016 firmware update prompted a flood of complaints in the comments, with users saying various drivers didn’t properly install. Several posted screenshots of the Device Manager, others posted error codes, complaining about blue screens during the install process.
Over at WinSuperSite, meanwhile, Richard Hay said that right-clicking the devices in Device Manager, then clicking “Update Drive” will solve the problem by installing drivers from February.
It’s not unusual for some users to have problems during firmware updates, and it’s not unusual for such users to post complaints about their problems. But Surface Pro 4 and Surfacebook users have seen issues since release.
Reviewers gave glowing reviews to both the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book. The hardware is sleek, the performance is great, and the price is fair. But there have been software issues since launch.Devices were failing to go to sleep while closed, meaning they’d simultaneously drain the battery while also overheating in their own elegantly designed keyboard cases. Some users reported Wi-Fi issues, while others reported the mouse cursor disappearing.
It didn’t affect all users, but it sure made the devices worse for many. And firmware updates designed to solve problems keep causing new ones: A January update introduced several new problems, breaking the pen and causing crashes for some users.
This latest firmware update looked to address these and other issues by updating major drivers. Here’s what WinBeta.org reported for the Surface Book:
- Microsoft driver update for Surface Camera Windows Hello
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel Control Logic
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel CSI2 Host Controller
- Intel driver update for Intel AVStream Camera 2500
- Intel driver update for Intel Imaging Signal Processor 2500
- Intel Corporation update for Microsoft Camera Rear
- Intel Corporation driver update for Microsoft IR Camera Front
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel HD Graphics 520
- Intel Corporation update for Intel Display Audio
- Microsoft driver update for Surface System Aggregator Firmware
- Microsoft driver update for Surface UEFI
- NVIDIA driver update for NVIDIA GeForce GPU
And here’s what’s new on the Surface Pro 4:
- Microsoft driver update for Surface Camera Windows Hello
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel AVStream Camera 2500
- Intel Corporation driver update for Microsoft IR Camera Front
- Microsoft driver update for Surface UEFI
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel CSI2 Host Controller
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel Control Logic
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel Imaging Signal Processor 2500
- Microsoft driver update for Surface CoSAR Driver
- Intel Corporation driver update for Intel HD Graphics 520
- Intel Corporation driver update for Microsoft Camera Front
- Microsoft driver update for Surface Embedded Controller Firmware
- Microsoft driver update for Surface System Aggregator Firmware
- Intel Corporation driver update for Microsoft Camera Rear
In theory these updates could solve issues, but not if they fail to install. It’s unfortunate that such great devices have so many hiccups during rollout. For the sake of Surface users, let’s hope it gets resolved, and that users won’t need to read comment threads and blogs to find solutions in the future.
