14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has brought back the Windows RT 8.1 update in the Store, revealing that it finally fixed a bug which bricked several Surface RT tablets.
The company initially said that its botched update only affected a small number of tablets, indicating that only 1 in every 1,000 Surface RTs have actually been damaged.
At the same time, Redmond also released a recovery image aimed at bricked devices, in an attempt to help users restore the Windows 8 installation and thus get their tablets to work once again.
A longer statement released today, which includes some previous comments released by Microsoft in the last few days, puts the emphasis on Microsoft’s willingness to solve issues that impact its customers.
The company claims that even though only a small number of devices have been affected, it worked really hard to address the issue, thus showing that it really cares about every single user.
Here’s Microsoft statement in full and don’t forget to drop us a line on this using the comment box after the jump:
“The update to Windows RT 8.1 is once again available as a free download in the Windows Store for users with Windows RT devices. We immediately suspended availability of the update after reports that a very small number of Surface RT customers—around 1 out of every 1,000 Surface RT 8.1 installs—had experienced an issue that left the update incomplete and their devices unbootable.
This was due to a rare situation where firmware updates had not completed at the time of the update to RT 8.1. In most cases, if a customer encountered this issue the result was simply an extra reboot. However, for a very small percentage, the boot configuration data was affected which prevented a successful boot.
We worked to quickly resolve the issue and now encourage customers to update their Surface RT devices. Surface Pro and 8.1 customers were not impacted by this issue. As previously announced, there is a recovery solution available for download here for Surface RT customers who experienced the installation issue.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If an issue occurs with our software or devices, we take immediate steps to ensure a quality experience for every single customer—that’s been our driving priority in this case, despite the very limited number of customers impacted. We are grateful to the customers who shared their Surface RT devices, assisting our efforts to determine the root cause quickly.”