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
    2019-04-16T00:25:30+00:00

    I have had the same problem with a Surface Pro 4. Issue started after an update. I have tried all the fixes online I could find and none have worked. Sure I can get the keyboard to come back, but after sleep or restart it will stop again. I was getting used to just physically disconnected and reconnecting the keyboard to bring it back waiting on an eventual MS fix.

    Despite the 'updates' being totally up to date, I was able to get the UEFI to download an update from Device Manager, but still no change to the problem.

    However something I have noticed that is not mentioned in this thread that in Device Manager, when the keyboard is not being detected, the soft cover driver is missing under Keyboard. I then go to View/show hidden devices and of course the driver is still there. I select scan for hardware changes and the keyboard starts working and the driver is now live....until next restart of course.

    So does this narrow the issue down at all that really its this  'detection' thats at fault as opposed to the drivers and everything else.

    What happens for you when trying this?

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-04-10T13:32:15+00:00

    Aaaannd ... the keyboard is again MIA! Aaarrgh! This morning, after two more "update and restart" prompts, it quit working. The driver is missing, too, of course. Is there any way to force a driver to load when Windows won't do it?

    I'm getting pretty sick of this freaking Surface. I'm out. It's useless to me without a reliable keyboard -- and one reason I just ordered an iPad for the first time in my life. Microsoft, you have made an enemy in me.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-04-09T16:24:42+00:00

    I have started shutting down my Surface every night now whereas previously I put it to sleep (yes I know that's bad) as wondering if that contributed to the huge meltdown (my laptop completely overheated just before the cover keyboard stopped working). I also put it to sleep now and again during the day and haven't had any issues in sleep mode so think you should be ok.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-04-09T14:44:20+00:00

    OK, my type cover started working spontaneously last night, apparently after another update. First thing I did was check device drivers, and sure enough, the Surface Touch Cover Filter Device is back again. It has been missing for the past couple of months (only the HID keyboard device was visible).

    I was careful to shut down the Surface last night -- as opposed to letting it sleep -- and the type cover is working again this morning. Hate to test sleep mode now, because it's so nice having a functioning keyboard again. But I suppose I must.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-04-09T14:29:31+00:00

    Do you know how long was "awhile" exactly? Did it stopped unexpectedly during use or did it stop when the surface was shut down and turned back on again?

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