Surface Pro 4 type cover suddenly not working.

Anonymous
2018-07-12T03:26:44+00:00

I don't know what happened. I turned my Surface Pro 4 on the other day and the type cover is dead. No lights. No response. No indication that it's working at all.  I rarely take my surface anywhere. 

This started on July 9th 2018. My system information is below. I've gone through all of the steps in the "Troubleshoot your Surface Type Cover or keyboard" page. I've tried to manually download and install the latest firmware and drivers from the "Download firmware and drivers for surface" page. I picked SurfacePro4_Win10_16299_1801701_1.msi. My device manager does not show the "Surface Touch Cover Filter Device" under keyboards or anywhere. It only shows the HID keyboard and cannot detect my type cover. The type cover is completely unresponsive. Also, my windows updates are completely up to date. I've provided the links to the troubleshooting pages I used below.

AGAIN, WTH

Troubleshoot your Surface Type Cover or keyboard

Download drivers and firmware for Surface 

Edition

Windows 10 Professional

Version

1803

OS Build

10.0.17134.165

Serial #

035060755053

Processor

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz

Graphics card

Intel(R) HD Graphics 520

System

OSType64BitX64

RAM

8 GB

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-10-03T03:01:12+00:00

    Weird, I had the opposite issue. It would only work with the magnet attached to the screen. If it was flat it would not work.

    Now after a while it has stopped working altogether. Doesn't even turn off the screen when I close it. Absolutely dead.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-10-03T02:29:45+00:00

    My SP4 typecover recently stopped working, turns out it needed to be flat to work, on any angle (like with the magnet attached to the screen) it stops working.

    Originally replied here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4-surfupdate/surface-pro-4-keyboard-not-working-type-cover/4a4d2cb1-8623-4eee-8b33-e52ea5342abb?messageId=434bf012-a306-4f38-909e-b4f6e669fda8 

    Started working again!

    I think mine atleast wasa hardware issue, I'm currently typing on it without the screen magnet attached, flat on a table.

    When I connect the keyboard magnet to the screen, or put the keyboard on an angle, it stops working again.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-09-20T09:37:25+00:00

    I have the same issue and tried everything ever described somewhere on the net.

    It is just frustrating that in over two years there hasn't been the slightest hint of a solution. For me the error occurred overnight. I suspect that the Surface (Pro 4) ran out of battery while performing an update.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-09-16T15:51:33+00:00

    Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Everyone here know how painful it is.

    With my friend we will try to boot linux to check if we will be more successful in this system (to check if this is hardware/software/firmware issue). He found out that there is a version which has load of drivers already implemented.

    We stuck in a point that the surface-modified version is not digitally signed so we have problem with secure boot.

    Not sure if we will disable secure boot... Will we be able to boot original windows later than? I don't want to loose my actual configuration...

    Does anyone have experience with this?

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-09-09T15:05:56+00:00

    Of course the day after I post, the type cover stops working.  So my fix was only temporary, and reinstalling the update does not resolve.  Or maybe the update was just coincidental.

    The type cover survived a reboot, and full power cycle, without moving the lid.  But it did not survive simply closing the cover, and then opening it again.

    You might be on to something, the rotation sensor may have sent information when the lid was closed or opened.

    I am going to do more testing.

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