Is SB unique with respect to the OS

[mikecox]

I was on the phone with MS because my Adobe Premiere Elements program was misbehaving, even after several "Geek squad tuneups" and several reinstalls. My Explorer 2 program was crashing all the time and the developer couldn't figure out why. MS suggested that I reinstall my OS, they left me after the process was initiated. But when it was done I had new problems and called them back. They told me the person I spoke with made a mistake and should have transferred me to a SB specialist.

They transferred me to one and they ran a bunch of processes and fixed the problem.

That leads me to wonder about just how unique the SB is, that MS needed to transfer me to a specialist. Does that mean that the next time I need to reinstall the OS shouldn't rely on the MS process for doing so? Are there any other situations where I should no rely on MS support to address and should I always seek SB support only because of it's UEFI BIOS or other unique configuration?

 

[mikecox]

anyone care to jump in here?

 

[jnjroach]

This is complex subject that few here are qualified to answer - but I will tell you what I know.

The Surface Book is a complex device that pushed the boundaries of what this generation SoCs could do - it uses a heavily modified NVIDIA GForce 960M GPU coupled with in an Intel 520 GMA configured by default to use the Intel GMA primarily but handing off 3D rendering to the NVIDIA GPU.

Most modern mobile devices use UEFI very few would use a traditional BIOS. With that said, Microsoft wrote their own UEFI for the SP4, SB and SS and all new devices moving forward so that adds a bit of uniqueness to the line. It offers capabilities that no other UEFI ODMs can support (or at least currently).

So it makes sense that they would have a support specialist for the Surface Line vs. the other OEM products.

 

[mikecox]

This is complex subject that few here are qualified to answer - but I will tell you what I know.

The Surface Book is a complex device that pushed the boundaries of what this generation SoCs could do - it uses a heavily modified NVIDIA GForce 960M GPU coupled with in an Intel 520 GMA configured by default to use the Intel GMA primarily but handing off 3D rendering to the NVIDIA GPU.

Most modern mobile devices use UEFI very few would use a traditional BIOS. With that said, Microsoft wrote their own UEFI for the SP4, SB and SS and all new devices moving forward so that adds a bit of uniqueness to the line. It offers capabilities that no other UEFI ODMs can support (or at least currently).

So it makes sense that they would have a support specialist for the Surface Line vs. the other OEM products.

Thanks. I think it's odd, with the modifications to the graphics card, which I imagine to be enhancements, that I am having trouble running some features in Premiere Elements, features that perform normally on my old tower.

So far no one has been able to address these performance issues and I am deeply disturbed but this because I bought the SB to use as my work (graphics editor: Ps, Lr, PrE) computer. So far the only issue I've had with Adobe software is with PrE, problems I don't have on my old tower.

I also have the low battery issue with the Tablet batt "not charging", which could only mean a $600 "replacement" after just over a year! Maybe the best option would be to donate my SB to charity and replace it with something that is not so precious and doesn't just shut down for no apparent reason, which it did just 20 min ago.

Do you get that's I'm frustrated with this machine?

 

[mikecox]

Now my machine is shutting down for no apparent reason, see my recent post.

Along with this there ie failure of the tablet to charge; it's at zero and "not charging" in spite of giggling the tablet to force better contact and doing some strange things in Adobe Premiere Elements, things that no one else can reproduce on their machines.

I just re-installed the OS, saving data but that didn't fix anything and now there is this shutting down issue.

If I did a clean re-install of the OS or simply returned my SB to it's OOB state, which I'm assuming is an option, then installed the current updates would that work on this machine, which appears to not be like other machines so I'm wondering if there are other things I need to take into consideration when trying to get a compatible clean install.

I doubt doing this will affect the tablet charging issue but, hopefully, it might solve some of the others.

 

[sharpuser]

@mikecox

I am also a Creative Cloud user. CC works well, though the menus fonts are too small, which still needs to be fixed by Adobe.
​

Yes, a clean re-install, or returning the SB to factory settings and storage will likely clear up your SB issues. It MAY also help with the battery recharge issue, but that is unlikely, and also seems mysterious.

Be sure to verify that your important personal files are on OneDrive,

How confident are you that your power supply is good?

 

[mikecox]

@mikecox

I am also a Creative Cloud user. CC works well, though the menus fonts are too small, which still needs to be fixed by Adobe.​

Have you tried Dan Antonielli's "Adobe App Scaling on High DPI Displays (FIX)"?
How:
​

1. 
   
   
   • Tell Windows Look for an external manifest file.
   • Create the external manifest files.
   • setting the "PreferExternalManifest" option in the registry?

I have used it on Lr and Ps and now my fonts are now easy to read.​

Yes, a clean re-install, or returning the SB to factory settings and storage will likely clear up your SB issues. It MAY also help with the battery recharge issue, but that is unlikely, and also seems mysterious.

That's encouraging.

My main concern is with the uniqueness of the SB system and how it interfaces with the Windows OS.

When I did an OS re-install, saving data, I ended up getting "need to restart..." because of an SB aggregate errors (forget the exact text). When I called MS back they told me I should have been talking to a SB specialist and transferred me. I was told by that person that the process should have been completed by a SB specialist in the first place and he ran some processes and fixed it. Which leads me to believe that I can't just use standard fixes because the SB is different. So should I be cautious about dealing with standard Win10 OS fixes?

I agree that the battery recharge issue is a mystery. I was hoping that it was simply a contact issue but that doesn't seem to be the problem because I've pushed and pressed and giggled the tablet and the problem persists.

Be sure to verify that your important personal files are on OneDrive,

OneDrive is another issue )-: It's not syncing properly. I'm currently reviewing a MS link "OneDrive video training". It seems to be very straightforward, a no-brainer, but I can't get my files to sync between my two computers. I have to copy my files directly onto the website because they don't appear in the OneDrive app. But I have all my files backed up on Carbonite so I can deal the OneDrive after a fresh re-install, who knows, maybe that will fix the OneDrive problem??

How confident are you that your power supply is good?

I assume that if the computer battery is charging without a problem that my power supply is good. I was told to let the battery discharge "at least once a month" so I'm doing that now and the battery recharges quickly enough.

 

[sharpuser]

Thanks for the font tip!

You are on the right track with doing a Reset (remove my files option).