New Surface 2 that can't do anything.

[Kristoffer Newsom]

Just bought a refurb surface 2 on the advice of an article here, good site - and seems like a great device, but NOTHING WORKS. When setting it up, I couldn't use my Microsoft account, it made me create a local account instead. When I logged in, I tried to check for updates, but that didn't work. Activating windows? Nope. Try again later. Store? NO connection. I'm utterly cut off. I have internet, I can get on IE and read this page, but I can't install apps or do much of anything because I'm totally disconnected from MSoft. Pretty bummed. Any advice? I've tried searching but have not been able to come up with any useful info so far.

TIA,
Kris

 

[Luffy Lau]

Refund

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

Got Windows to activate by changing the date and time manually to be correct. ...still won't connect to store or update. SMH.

 

[hotphil]

Sounds bizarre. I'd hard reset it to clear any crap out and then if it won't join a network/let you use a MS account during the setup, time for a refund.
They are great when they work though.

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

Got my MS account on! Once date and time was manual, that solved that and the windows activation. FINALLY after several dozen tries I got a firmware update to come up in windows update. Downloading now, hopefully that'll solve the issues. Bought two of these for my small business, hope my partner doesn't go through the same trouble tomorrow...

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

LOL - took forever to dl that firmware update, and when it finally finished and I hit "restart", it said, "Installing update 1 of 70" - woooow, SEVENTY?? yikes. Well fingers crossed - I think I may have found the culprit! :grincry:

Can't wait to put this thing to use, gorgeous screen and hardware.

 

[Laura Knotek]

LOL - took forever to dl that firmware update, and when it finally finished and I hit "restart", it said, "Installing update 1 of 70" - woooow, SEVENTY?? yikes. Well fingers crossed - I think I may have found the culprit! :grincry:

Can't wait to put this thing to use, gorgeous screen and hardware.

I hope you got it sorted and everything will work now.

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

Restarted about a half dozen times, following the massive download and installation. BSOD, then restarted, then installed updates, then restarted. Battery wasn't charging, had the little red x next to the icon. Restarted, that went away. Went back to updates, it says there are more, I click details, then download and install. Says it's downloading but the progress bar isn't really moving. ...and I've got 45MB/sec internet. One of the ones it's trying to download and install says that I need it to get future updates. Will update as things progress, I'm going to bed now. Fingers crossed that it'll do what it's supposed to eventually while I'm asleep.

Edit - had to send an email, so I checked on the download - it's progressing!! I think this thing might be coming back to life. Absolutely love the hardware, it's simply gorgeous.

 

[trance56]

It's a pain to setup. I ran into the same problems.

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

After all that, the battery won't charge. Totally rethinking this purchase.

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

...and when I say the battery won't charge, I mean it won't stay ON when I pull the power cable.

 

[exkerZ]

A restart might work. And if it doesnt, although i know you worked hard to finally get the updates, a refresh can help also.

Posted via Windows Phone Central App

 

[xandros9]

this entire adventure makes me think its a defective unit

 

[Cobb]

Yeah, its a fustercluck to update and reboot in the right order. Theres quite a few updates as it goes from 8 to 8.1 to all the firmware, office rt and such. Lots of reboots fixes the little problems til it can install all the updates.

Is the white band on the power cord illuminated? Is the wall wart warm? Have you tried flipping it around so the cord sticks up and the white band is near the bottom? Is the surface warm to the touch or hot?

 

[philhachey]

Lol... I had the same date/time problem with my daughters sp3. I was so mad that it seemed like the device wouldn't work for anything. I ended up setting I to one of the other time servers.... The Microsoft one seemed messed up for some reason.

Good luck

 

[xpien]

Check date / time

 

[RajeevT]

Check date / time

Did you go through the thread and read the OP's posts?

@Kristoffer: A full reset is the first thing I'd have done when buying a refurbed/second hand device, especially before spending all that time updating. If you still have problems try that as a last-ditch effort before asking for a refund.

 

[badr0b0t]

surface 2 will not get you anywhere even if you got it to work. windows RT won't take any legacy windows program. You're at the mercy of Windows store.
I got brand new Surface 1 before but returned it the next day. I got an ASUS T100 transformer book instead that runs full windows 8.1 with office out of the box.
RT is just for facebooking and other social apps. Nothing much you can install on it.

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

Tried doing a full reset, it said there was something missing and couldn't do it. I'm sending this unit back for an exchange - I bought two of them on fleabay, one for my business partner and one for me - and one gave me all of these problems (by the way, thanks everyone for all the tips, I've tried every singe idea and this thing is till FUBAR). ...the OTHER one seems to have been relatively trouble-free, though getting all the updates installed and rebooted several times was a little bit of a hassle. It's currently sitting next to my keyboard playing "Longmire" on Netflix while I type this.

Gotta say, this is a wonderful device when it works. I also noticed that these have since gone up to 299 from 279 on the 'bay. Glad I snagged 'em when I did!

 

[Kristoffer Newsom]

surface 2 will not get you anywhere even if you got it to work. windows RT won't take any legacy windows program. You're at the mercy of Windows store.
I got brand new Surface 1 before but returned it the next day. I got an ASUS T100 transformer book instead that runs full windows 8.1 with office out of the box.
RT is just for facebooking and other social apps. Nothing much you can install on it.

I bought it for taking notes in meetings, making basic sketches, browsing the internet, writing emails, reading PDF documents, listening to music and watching Netflix. ...dunno why I'd want a tablet to run legacy apps. I've got a laptop and a desktop to do stuff like that.