New drivers and firmware fix Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book power management problems
Both the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book have been well-received devices on the whole, but there have been complaints from some users about power management. A failure to properly enter sleep mode has been causing not only battery drain, but also heat issues -- now Microsoft have issued fixes.
Starting today, new drivers and firmware updates are rolling out that address these problems as Microsoft says it continues to listen to user feedback.
Over on the Windows blog, Panos Panay writes: "Today's updates include a set of Microsoft and Intel driver and firmware updates for Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 that will help you get the most of the power management options that Surface is designed to offer and continue to make your Surface more productive".
On the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 update pages, Microsoft reveals exactly what the updates include:
- 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 (v8.20.0.866) improves system stability.
- Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel SST) OED driver update (v8.20.0.866) 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.
If you have Automatic Updates installed, there's nothing to do other than sit back and wait for the updates to arrive. But if you've disabled this setting, now is the time to perform a manual check.