When's the next set of Surface firmware updates?

[beq]

Microsoft Surface Book update history | Surface firmware updates

Looks like there hasn't been any SB (or SP4) firmware updates since February 2016 (whereas previously there have been consistent updates every month since October 2015).

Will we likely see updates by end of March or early April?

I have a few newly purchased SB's to set up for family members. But with all the potential problems (ex. wake to blank screen from Feb update), I'm nervous about even starting. Would prefer to start with the very latest patches that Microsoft may have in the works.

 

[mtmowl]

I received this update the on 3/22: Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3140741). It disrupted several previously working systems.

 

[GreyFox7]

The next one will be shortly after April's update Tuesday if patterns hold true although there's no fixed schedule for FW updates, they usually arrive just in time to muck up your latest project according to Murphy's Law and Einstein's theory of relativity. The relative negative impact the update will have is directly proportional to the relative importance of your project.

 

[Niterider4]

The 2/17 update fixed a bunch of stuff for me, and then the 3/22 update broke a bunch of stuff. I'm looking forward to the next update to fix the stuff that the 3/22 update broke.

 

[beq]

Thanks guys.

The Surface (hardware/firmware) system update history lists 2/17 as the most recent update.

I assume that's because the 3/22 update, as mentioned above, is a more general Windows release for all machines (not just Surface)?

But bottom line, I probably shouldn't expect more Surface-specific patches until at least mid-April (after April's 2nd Tuesday Windows Update schedule)?

Guess I'll bite the bullet and start setting up our Surface Books now (I was willing to wait a week, but not 3-4 weeks)...

 

[beq]

It's interesting that Microsoft seems to have moved towards unbundling each wave of Surface updates?

Last month they started decoupling the single monolithic bundle into smaller sub-groups:

On 2/11/2016 we made a change in how updates are delivered to Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. Surface updates may now be delivered as multiple updates when you check for updates in Windows. Prior to today, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book would have received a single update called “System Firmware Update – 1/27/2016”. With this change, if you had not already installed the 1/27 update, it will now be delivered as 4 updates:

• System Hardware Update – 1/27/2016
• Microsoft driver update for Surface UEFI
• Microsoft driver update for Surface Management Engine
• Microsoft driver update for Surface System Aggregator Firmware

Then this month they seemed to go further to break out the sub-groups into individual component updates:

On 3/15/2016 we made a change in how updates are delivered to Surface Book. Updates will now be delivered as multiple updates when you check for updates in Windows. Prior to 3/15/2016, those devices would have received the following updates:

• 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

After this change, if you had not already installed the 2/17 update, it will now be delivered as the following updates:

• 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
• Microsoft driver update for Surface Embedded Controller Firmware
• Microsoft driver update for Surface Touch
• Intel Corporation driver update for Intel® HD Graphics 520
• Intel® Corporation driver update for Intel® Display Audio

Is that because a large monolithic update has to update many files (and registry entries, dependencies, and whatnot) in one session, which increases risk of errors? And when the whole bundle has to be uninstalled and re-installed again, other files that had been installed successfully the first time could fail the second time around? With smaller individual updates, only the specific ones that failed have to be re-tried.

 

[Niterider4]

I think it may also be related to troubleshooting. It seems that each update causes certain problems on specific machines, but solves the same problems on other machines. For example, the 3/22 updates caused the auto-rotate problem to occur on my SB, but fixed the same problem for other people.

 

[JaeMelo]

Sign... It seems like we may not be getting a firmware update this month after all.

 

[KA309]

Is anyone aware of any new information here? I'm still suffering some effects of the 2/17 update. Disabling Fast Start solved most of the problems, but putting my SB into sleep mode for any length of time is still problematic, as it often fails to wake up (at least without holding down the power button and completely rebooting ...).

 

[mtmowl]

Is anyone aware of any new information here? I'm still suffering some effects of the 2/17 update. Disabling Fast Start solved most of the problems, but putting my SB into sleep mode for any length of time is still problematic, as it often fails to wake up (at least without holding down the power button and completely rebooting ...).

I had an update come through the last few days on my machines, KB3147458. It seemed to clear up a lot of the on-again, off-again problems that my SB was having. The SB is running pretty well now. Not perfect, but functionally well.

 

[BearFlag]

Is anyone aware of any new information here? I'm still suffering some effects of the 2/17 update. Disabling Fast Start solved most of the problems.

Disabling Fast Start solved my camera issue too but I'm hoping for a firmware update where I can enable the Fast Start again without having to suffer camera login issues.

 

[Niterider4]

In addition to disabling Fast Startup, make sure that hibernate is actually turned off. Even though FS is turned off, and all the power button/sleep button/lid close items are set to sleep instead of hibernate, hibernate can still come on automatically after a period of time.

Go to Control Panel, Power Options, Change plan settings, Change advanced power settings. It can be tough to find this menu - you are looking for a new box that opens called Power Options - Advanced Settings. In that box, you will see a drop-down menu for various items, including Sleep. Expand the Sleep item, then expand the Hibernate after item, and make sure both items are set to Never.

This will stop the SB from going into hibernate automatically.