Microsoft seemingly has begun rolling out at least part of an awaited firmware update for its second-generation Surface Pro 2 tablets, according to user reports on Twitter and in various online forums.
However, the firmware update may be one of multiple updates or a partial update only, said sources close to the company.
The firmware update some report they are seeing — designed to fix problems introduced by a faulty December 2013 update to Microsoft’s newest Intel-based tablets — seemingly is arriving in waves. Surface Pro 2 users in several countries were reporting that they received an update starting the evening of Jan. 17; others said an update arrived for download on their Surface Pro 2s on Jan. 18.
Microsoft’s December firmware update for its Surface Pro 2s resulted in a number of systems experiencing battery-life and sleep/shutdown issues. Microsoft ended up pulling the firmware update and officials have been saying a fix would come some time after the holidays.
Earlier this week, Microsoft did issue firmware updates for first-generation Surface Pro devices that were experiencing battery-life problems due to issues with the Type and Touch covers. Microsoft first released a Surface Pro firmware update on January 14 for Surface Pros running Windows 8.0 and on Jan. 15 for Surface Pros running Windows 8.1.
Microsoft officials had nothing new to say earlier this week as to when to expect the Surface Pro 2 firmware fix beyond that it would be released as soon as possible.
User Phra Mick Ratanapanyo reported on Microsoft’s Answers Forum that he had installed the Jan. 18, 2014 Firmware update on an Surface Pro 2 and that “Wifi, Bluetooth, pen & Type Cover 2 all functioning well.”
However, that user also noted that one old problem — cold booting with a microSD card still — still was causing excessive CPU consumption issues. Heatherington confirmed the same regarding the cold-booting problem after applying the January 2014 Surface Pro 2 firmware update.
soucre: zdnet.com
