How do I restore the BIOS SKU identification in Surface Pro 9

Question

I cannot run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit because it does not recognize my Surface Pro 9 as a Surface device. I cannot install the driver package from Microsoft for the same reason. And I have gotten conflicting information on what to do about it.

Anthropic Claude LLM thinks the reason Surface maintenance software doesn't recognize my hardware is because my Surface Model SKU is missing. msinfo32 shows "OEMLO SKU Number" for the "System SKU." And the Surface App shows "OEMLO Product" at the top of the window above my picture and the battery level icon, although it shows correct information for the serial number. Am I correct that OEMLO should be Surface Pro 9? I haven't had a chance to find another Surface pro to compare with.

That's actually kind of a cool irony if you think about it. The Surface Diagnostic tool kit cannot identify certain broken components unless they are not broken.

Irony aside, I've spent two days on the phone with Microsoft support techs and went through a many-hours-long Windows repair. Two techs told me the OEMLO Product designation is to be expected and not a cause for concern. I was screensharing the Surface App, and they saw the designation. However, between my poor hearing and our low-bandwidth Internet phone connection and their struggle to read, speak and understand English I cannot be sure they understood my question or that I understood their answers.

My Surface is under warranty, but I'm discovering how little that means. I think Microsoft will replace my new Surface Pro with a refurbished one that was broken and repaired if I am willing to send my computer in, wait for it to be examined and then reconfigure all my software on the replacement. Obviously, I don't want to go through that if this is a simple fix like a forced BIOS update, especially since the Surface is operating normally otherwise. I hope someone here can provide more credible information than I have to work with at the moment.

Answer 1

Hi Jay,

It's been a while! I've seen cases where this happened on Surface Pro 8, but this is the first I've seen om SP9. The system SKU reference is at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/surface-system-sku-reference and if your system is suddenly not reporting the correct SKU, it sounds like an update has gone wrong. Depending on which SKU you have the 2nd column shows what it should report:

If updates won't install and the latest MSI driver pack for your Surface won't install, I think you really are needing an exchange to resolve this.

Answer 2

Hi Jay. I understand that you're having trouble with your Surface Pro 9 not being recognized properly even by the diagnostic app and driver packages. I know how frustrating this can be, especially after spending hours with support and still not getting a clear resolution. Let me help clarify what’s going on and what your options are.

The "OEMLO SKU" is an SKU used in pre-production surface units specifically surface pro 9. And the firmware might be tampered or changed or a hardware replacement was done on the unit. That is why the diagnostic app and the drivers fail to recognize your surface hardware. Unfortunately, this cannot be fixed by a normal BIOS update or Windows reinstall.

Since you mentioned that this is still in warranty. Where did you purchase your device? Is it brand new, refurbished or surplus? Which drivers are you having the error/issues? I would appreciate if you can send a screenshot or photo of the errors showing.

I'm thinking of a possible servicing or repair for your surface as the last resort. Still, looking forward to your response.

Cheers

Rez

Answer 3

Thanks, Rez and Barb. That information is helpful.

My Surface Pro 9 works fine for now despite this issue. I am not sure but think the problem might be as simple as restoring the SMBIOS information. With luck, that will lead to easy correction of all other issues.

I want to fix that before I pay the high cost of more disruptive solutions. I need this computer. Even a short loss of it would be significant, and if were unnecessarily reimaged, reconfiguring it would be another lost day or two.

So I want a Microsoft facility near me in Washington DC to reinitialize the SMBIOS while I wait and without reimaging the device. I understand Microsoft needs physical access to the machine to do this. Getting a Surface reinitialized used to be incredibly convenient when there was a physical Microsoft Store 10 minutes from my home.

My main problem now is getting through front line support. It has no troubleshooting capability and doesn't handle much more than facilitating returns and telling users about settings.

The bigger problem is communication. All my recent calls have been on phone connections that were so poor communication would have been challenging even if the techs spoke fluent English, and fluent English was not what I encountered. It is no exaggeration to say that for anything even slightly complicated, I could not understand them, and they could not understand me. I don't blame them. I don't think they're supposed to troubleshoot, and the communication quality sounded like a shortwave broadcast from the other side of the world. But I somehow need to get through that to solve this problem.

Answer 4

You may also try it with Microsoft Authorized Service Providers.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/service-centers-for-in-person-support-fa81797b-44e0-47e5-b2f9-c490f9d330b4

or How to get service for your surface device here

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/how-to-get-service-or-repair-for-surface-b06da716-0763-65b3-e2f2-116d9e30f877

All the best.

Answer 5

Hello again Jay. I manually searched if there are any reputable repair shops in DC. This is what I found: https://laptoprepairgeeks-dc.com/index.html

According to reviews and feedbacks I researched on the web, they get the job done. Take note, this is a third party repair service provided. It is a last resort I can recommend.

All the best. Rez

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