Skip to main content

Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 firmware update fix freezing issue

Microsoft Surface Pro 4
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
2015 has been a big year for Microsoft. Along with the release of Windows 10, the firm is gradually moving away from its old irregular releases of software and toward subscription models and more frequent updates. Before now, though, the software giant laid the groundwork for this type of patching and tweaking with its Surface Pro firmware updates, and those look set to continue following the release of the Surface Book.

This update brings with it some simple changes to the various 2-in-1 systems that Microsoft has put out in recent months. For starters, it will improve stability for both Surface devices, and provide an update to its Management Engine that will improve optimizations with touch. That function was also augmented through tweaks to the Precise Touch Device driver, which was brought up to v1.1.0.217.

Recommended Videos

An update to the Microsoft Surface ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery driver should also ensure that the correct Surface driver is installed — a problem that a few Surface users ran into prior to this update.

Related: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 review

According to a Microsoft answer thread, many of the changes made this time around were to fix a freezing issue that some Surface users were dealing with. Developers, however, are still working on fixing up a problem with graphics driver crashes.

Although far from a big update in any sense of the word, it’s good to see Microsoft continuing with its plans to optimize and improve different aspects of the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 after their release, much as the firm has done with previous generations of Surface hardware.

If you are a Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book owner, then chances are these updates have been applied automatically. If they haven’t however, you can trigger them manually by opening up the Update and Security settings on your device and clicking on the ‘Check for Updates’ button (as per Winbeta).

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
A YouTuber with 11 million subscribers just unboxed the M4 MacBook Pro
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max chip seen from behind.

Leaks of the yet-to-be-announced M4 MacBook Pro have been getting weirder and weirder lately. First, it was up for sale on Facebook. And now, as spotted by MacRumors, there seems to be an entire unboxing video of it on YouTube.

Weirder yet, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman retweeted the Russian YouTuber Wylsacom's video with the comment: "Unconfirmed but looks fairly legitimate." This isn't some unknown YouTube channel, either. He currently sits at 11.3 million subscribers.

Read more
I’m worried Apple will skip its October event – here’s what that means for the M4 MacBook Pro
Apple CEO Tim Cook looks at a display of brand new redesigned MacBook Air laptop during the WWDC22

For months now, we’ve been hearing that Apple is set to announce a boatload of new products -- including the M4 MacBook Pro range, fresh iPads, and more -- at an event this October. Yet a new report suggests that things might not be quite so simple after all.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman says that Apple is set to reveal these new products “around the end of October,” with the devices going on sale on Friday, November 1. So far, so expected.

Read more
The M4 MacBook Pro is apparently listed for sale on Facebook — but I don’t buy it
An open MacBook Pro on a table.

According to analysts and industry experts like Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is expected to announce an M4 refresh of the MacBook Pro possibly this month and most likely before the end of the year. No event announcements have come yet, though Apple has historically held an October Mac event. But now, an online leak discovered by Wccftech claims the new model is up for sale on a private Facebook group. The claim is backed up by alleged images of the retail box, but there's plenty to be suspicious about.

While the images were posted by known leaker ShrimpApplePro, the information was sent to them from an unknown source. There are two posts so far, one with an image of the back of the retail box -- with comments from AppleShrimpPro saying to take it with asome skepticism -- and one showing additional images and claiming it's for sale on Facebook.

Read more