Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book Firmware Update Fixes Power Management Issues

Microsoft has pushed a firmware update for its Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book devices. The latest update aims towards fixing power management issues among a number of other improvements and stability. Most notably, the update addresses sleep issue which prevented these devices from entering sleep mode properly, causing batter drain and overheating.

The device sleep issue was one of the most widely reported issue with Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book devices. Due to this issue, Surface devices with Intel Skylake processors failed to enter the “deepest sleep” state and the device would wake up through events which would not normally wake it.

Earlier in December last year, Microsoft promised to bring a fix “sometime soon in the new year.”

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In the blog entry announcing today’s updates, Panos Panay stated that Microsoft is listening and channeling feedback directly into their products.

[And] feedback from our customers is really important to the team and to me personally. I read the blogs, I read the comments, I read social media, I read the forums…and so does the team.

The firmware updates are cumulative, meaning only the new updates will be downloaded and installed on a device if it has previous updates installed. A device should automatically check for updates at defined interval but you can manually check for updates by going to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update and selecting Check for updates.

Surface Pro 4 device update – February 17, 2016: Changelog

• System Hardware Update – 2/17/2016
• Microsoft driver update for Surface UEFI
• Microsoft driver update for Surface Management Engine
• Microsoft driver update for Surface System Aggregator Firmware
• Surface Management Engine update (v11.0.0.1202) improves system stability.
• Surface System Aggregator Firmware update (v103.1081.260.0) improves accuracy of battery status and battery life during sleep.
• Surface UEFI update (v104.1085.768.0) improves battery life and improves stability during power state transition changes into and out of sleep states.
• Intel® Precise Touch Device driver update (v1.1.0.226) improves stability during power state transition changes into and out of sleep states.
• Intel® HD Graphics 520 driver update (v20.19.15.4364) improves display stability, system stability and battery life.
• Intel® Display Audio driver update (v8.20.0.745) supports compatibility with the updated graphics driver.
• Realtek High Definition Audio(SST) driver update (v6.0.1.7734) improves system stability.
• Intel® Smart Sound Technology (Intel® SST) Audio Controller driver update (v8.20.0.877) improves system stability.
• Intel® Smart Sound Technology (Intel® SST) OED driver update (v8.20.0.877) improves system stability.
• Intel® Management Engine Interface driver update (v11.0.0.1176) improves system stability.
• Intel® Serial IO GPIO Host Controller driver update (v30.63.1603.5) improves auto rotation reliability when tablet mode is turned off.
• Intel® Serial IO I2C Host Controller driver update (v30.63.1603.5) improves auto rotation

Surface Book device update – February 17, 2016: Changelog

• System Hardware Update – 2/17/2016
• Microsoft driver update for Surface UEFI
• Microsoft driver update for Surface Management Engine
• Microsoft driver update for Surface System Aggregator Firmware
• Surface Management Engine update (v11.0.0.1202) improves system stability.
• Surface System Aggregator Firmware update (v88.1081.257.0) improves accuracy of battery status and battery life during sleep.
• Surface UEFI update (v104.1085.768.0) improves battery life and improves stability during power state transition changes into and out of sleep states.
• Intel® Precise Touch Device driver update (v1.1.0.226) improves stability during power state transition changes into and out of sleep states.
• Intel® HD Graphics 520 driver update (v20.19.15.4364) improves display stability, system stability and battery life.
• Intel® Display Audio driver update (v8.20.0.745) supports compatibility with the updated graphics driver.
• Realtek High Definition Audio(SST) driver update (v6.0.1.7734) improves system stability.
• Intel® Smart Sound Technology (Intel® SST) Audio Controller driver update (v8.20.0.877) improves system stability.
• Intel® Smart Sound Technology (Intel® SST) OED driver update (v8.20.0.877) improves system stability.
• Intel® Management Engine Interface driver update (v11.0.0.1176) improves system stability.
• Intel® Serial IO GPIO Host Controller driver update (v30.63.1603.5) improves auto rotation reliability when tablet mode is turned off.
• Intel® Serial IO I2C Host Controller driver update (v30.63.1603.5) improves auto rotation reliability when tablet mode is turned off.
• Surface Book Base Firmware driver update (v1.2.0.0) improves battery life during sleep.

P.S.: Don’t own a Surface Book/Surface Pro 4 yet? Have a look at best Surface Deals on Microsoft Store or Amazon and save up to $100.

Source: Microsoft