Surface Pro 4 type cover suddenly not working.

I have had this problem 2 times now with the same keyboard. The first time it just randomly started working again one day when I plugged it back in after a few months of not using it. It stopped working again and the fix this time was simple... I just cleaned both sides of the contacts (Keyboard and Tablet) with a qtip and alcohol and it fixed it. Had no idea it would be that easy. Hope this works for some of you guys..

PS - It isn't a Windows thing either, as I am running Linux Debian on mine. Good Luck!!

I decided to buy a Bluetooth keyboard. It helps me to solve my very stressful problems. Now, I can use my surface properly. Oh, thank God. Don't need to deal with my signature surface top cover keyboard anymore.

The problem on my surface keyboard happened since last year. I tried everything including contacted the Microsoft team support and they helped my surface and tried to fix it remotely. They failed to help and the keyboard was still not working.

You can check my experience using the bluetooth keyboard that I bought online.

https://youtu.be/o9RHT80GmH8

I hope you can solve your problem.

Sincerely,

Emma

Ok - solved this for myself. Tried everything here and elsewhere.

Locked out my surface pro 4 cover keyboard and touchpad even though I know it works fine.

I managed to lock it out with a program called driver booster. Thank you soooooo much Driver Booster !

My solution that worked for me;

You will need to -

A) Be sure that in device manager you see the "surface type cover filter device" driver listed under keyboards.

Your device manager should be like -

Devices:

---blah Devices

---blah More Devices

----Keyboards;

HID keyboard driver
HID keyboard driver
Surface type cover Filter Device (a driver)<------this needs to be showing

Excuse me please (if details not perfect) as doing this from my (bad) memory :)

If you have this you are good to go to part B.

B)

Still in device manager goto Human Interface Devices

Devices:

---blah Devices

---blah More Devices

---Human Interface Devices

heaps of devices

heaps of devices

wacom (anything labelled wacom right at the bottom)<------------------you need something labelled wacom for this fix to work.

Uninstall the wacom driver in Human Interface Devices.!!!!VERY IMPORTANT ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE

A SURFACE PRO 4 (or possibly a 3 but not a 2).

Make sure you delete the associated wacom driver too.

Wait about 30 seconds to a minute. When I was doing all this I had my keyboard connected.

Now to win a cigar :) you go back the keyboard section of the device manager and

by following part B) your computer will delete

the ; Surface type cover Filter Device (a driver) from part A by itself :).

So if after 30 or so seconds you see the computer has deleted Surface type cover Filter Device from Part A) goto part C

C) Still in Device manager (after a few minutes) rescan for new hardware (top menu of device manager) and viola You got your keyboard back.?? I didnt even need to reboot.

The thing is apparently microsoft phased out the Human Interface Device-wacom driver after the surface pro 2.

In my case driver booster installed it. I checked and my surface keyboard cover was linked to a wacom device when I had the issue.

I have no idea if this will help you but good luck to you!

Ran into this problem after doing a full clean reinstall on Windows 10 on my bosses old tablet. The cover was working in the UEFI menu so I knew it was a driver issue...

If anyone is still trying to fix this using StephenJonesLooper's solution but is getting stuck because you don't have "Surface type cover filter device" under \

keyboards in device manager then try the following.

1. Connect an external keyboard (IMPORTANT)
2. Go through and uninstall all of the "HID Keyboard Device" drivers (surface pro 3 I was working on had 3 after a fresh install)
3. Wait 20-30 seconds
4. Action -> Scan for Hardware Changes.

In my particular case Windows then reinstalled the 3 HID Keyboard Device drivers AND the Surface Type Cover Filter Device driver

All of a sudden the type cover and touchpad started functioning as normal as if nothing was ever a problem... I note that now under Human Interface Devices I no longer have Wacom Driver and instead have

• Surface Type Cover Firmware Update
• Surface Type Cover Integration

Under Keyboards I now have

• HID Keyboard Device (3 of them)
• Surface Type Cover Filter Device.

Thanks StephenJonesLooper for your solution it got me most of the way there, hopefully this extra info will help someone else out in a similar situation.

Well, nothing I threw at it worked, so I'm returning the device to the seller.

Luckily they had 2 identical SP4s for sale - I'm trading this one for the other one which has the TC port working, even though the TC they're providing is very worn and used, so I need to buy a new one...

I figured I could save 20% by buying the one with the non-functioning TC port and solving the issue myself if it was a software-related one... but it very much looks like a hardware issue :( Since there is no official Microsoft store here in Hungary, I could only talk to non-official service centers - given the extremely poor repairability (2/10 as per iFixit) and the high risk of damaging the screen in the process, no one would take it on.

BTW the device works OK otherwise, the seller gave me a bluetooth keyboard, however it's not perfect as even though it connects instantly upon pressing a single button, it:

1. has no backlighting
2. needs to be charged separately
3. has no indication of the battery running low, it just stops working all of a sudden when the battery dies
4. has a WAAAAAAAY too sensitive touchpad
5. is not an original accessory (this with the fact of the TC port not working bothers me to some extent)

P.S.: the very last thing I could have tried is to get an SSD image of an identical device with a working TC (since the hardware was never recognized by Windows on mine, they were not installed and I couldn't force them + I don't even know what exact drivers I would need to install) and see what would happen, but given all I've gone through, most probably this wouldn't have worked either.

Hi - am not a guru on this problem of course, can only offer a few tiny suggestions.

Anything I suggest is only a suggestion and is your responsibility if it all gets worse :)

I'm pretty sure Driver Booster installed a wacom driver and my Surface pro 4 linked the keyboard(surface cover) to that interface hence my solution I have already posted.

Driver Booster from ioBit is free to use (at least it was for me). You might be better to try the official microsoft updates for the surface pro. 4 at; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49498

I used the SurfacePro4_Win10_18362_21.061.12819.0.msi one. At the time I didn't know which one to use

but it's all explained in the link below.

Sorry I can't be of more help. There were a few more things I tried from this discussion that may help and I'll try to find them....and post later. Cheers

PS there are other microsoft update packages for other surface pros models at;

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/download-drivers-and-firmware-for-surface-09bb2e09-2a4b-cb69-0951-078a7739e120

PPS

From that web page above (Microsoft) they state;

Before you begin updating

Attach your Surface Type Cover or Surface Dock (if you have one) so it gets the latest updates, too.

Make sure you have an internet connection and then plug your Surface into an outlet. Make sure your Surface is charged to at least 40 percent before installing updates. Keep your Surface plugged in and turned on while it's updating.

Me: You should read the whole page for the right context at : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/download-drivers-and-firmware-for-surface-09bb2e09-2a4b-cb69-0951-078a7739e120