QUERY: MICROSOFT SURFACE 2

I recently aquired this Microsoft Surface 2 RT Model 1572. it happens to be in mint condition for being a model made in 2013.
It has one major problem that I have been determined to fix. But everything I find & do turns out to be a dead end. It will not connect to the internet.
It will connect to my wifi but that's as far as it gets. It has Internet Explorer as a browser, but being outdated, it is apparently useless.
When trying to access IE, I get this msg. "This Page Can't be Displayed" I've tried various browsers with the same results. Everything else on the tablet
works great. Being that it's such a neat, clean little machine, I feel determined to make it work. I have milked the internet trying to find a solution with no luck.
I have reset it to factory specs. as well.

Perhaps someone here has been around one of these machines & hopefully would have an answer other than tossing it. Thanks.



"Where There's a Will, There's a Way"

You can try using Sidekick browser to see if that works any better than that out of date version of IE. I've never actually looked into what goes on in a Microsoft Surface device before but they sure are locked down heavily. You might need to download the install file to a USB stick to get it onto the tablet.


https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-rt-browser/4f72afb9-433b-4232-b3f2-779f6b4e4c22

https://www.meetsidekick.com/download/

fink, I've read the article also. Tried sidekick & still got the same message. I also read an article titled JAIL BREAK.
whereas you can break microsoft's command over what done with the tablet. However, it was quite elaborate & maybe too risky. Probably could have done it years ago, but too old now dwelve into something like that now.
But will keep searching. Thanks, fink............

Windows RT is a different breed of Windows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_RT

As far as I can see you should still be able to access a command prompt window in Windows RT. Find "run" and type cmd and then just for kicks see if you can ping a website. Just wondering if the problem is totally the browser or something else in networking not working.

in a command prompt window type

Quote:

---

ping www.yahoo.com

---

hit enter and see what results or message you get.

Yes, RT is definetly a different breed.
Fink, not sure how to ping a website from cmd. And with CMD, it has be by administrator or nothing works. I fiddled with it the other day & noted that........

So....you're able to select YOUR wi-fi and enter the password?

I know nothing about RT...but can you access the firewall settings and see if IE is allowed outside access?

Quote:

---

not sure how to ping a website from cmd

---

Click Start and in the run space

Type cmd

right click command prompt and choose "run as adminstrator"

in the black cmd window type ping www.google.com



https://youtu.be/JHWo6YTGYKM?t=54

Gotcha thanks. Will give it a shot.......

Hey fink, this going to sound stupid, but I forgot to ask you, what do I do after ping the url?
It reacted as it should but what next ?

What message did you see when you pinged.

Just round trip packets: Reply from:142.251.4.46. bytes = x32ms.
X 4............................................
Round Trip in mili seconds: Minmum 47ms.
Max...... 50ms


thats all...........

I forgot to mention, I can also access the registry which is the same as all MS registries.

I have seen multiple posts with this same issue, but none that had any actual fixes that worked.

I assume that you have Windows 8.1 (not Windows 8) RT installed.

Things to try:

1. Connect a USB to Ethernet adapter and see if that works. Note than not just any adapter will work. See the posts below:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...b-659318b78283

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...a-ef040e3b6038

2. Update to Windows 10 for ARM. See the video links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dio73_-Y5U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7I8OQKBrTA

Note that support for Windows 8.1 will end on January 10, 2023.

So now that we know you can ping it means the device does have a working network set up and the issue is far more likely a functional browser or lack thereof.

My searching has been unable to conclusively find if a portable browser run on a USB drive might work on a Surface tablet.

It's free and easy to set up. I'd give it a try with Firefox browser to see what happens.
I wouldn't hold my breath because it looks like Microsoft has really done their best to shut this system down as much as possible but let us know.

https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable