Surface Pro 4 type cover suddenly not working.

I am adding my name to the list of bricked Surface Tablets after a random Microsoft software update.

Can anyone say Class Action Lawsuit here?

It seems there are thousands and thousands of broken Surface Tablets that Microsoft broke with their own software and firmware updates.

This stupid "MVP" software culture (Minimum Viable Product) is to blame. They flat out do not care about their customers or the quality of their work anymore. Just out to make a quick buck and tell you to go F yourself when something goes wrong.

At least mine is under warranty and I will be making them send me a new one tomorrow over this. I have spent 12 hours today trying to unbrick my device which worked perfectly fine until I hit the button saying "Windows Update requires you to reboot your device."

COME ON MICROSOFT!!!!!

Your entire public forum is full of people complaining about this same issue.

This is HANDS DOWN the last time I ever purchase a Microsoft product for the remainder of my life. I have a 2012 MacBook Pro that is STILL 100x better and more stable than this brand new surface tablet from 2019.

That is completely unacceptable.

I doubt anyone at this terrible company even reads these forum posts.

for some reason, this works.

i am running surface pro 3, with type cover for sp 4.

everything was not working, i left tablet to sleep, came back, and then keyboard went dead. I am well aware of the config and troubleshooting, and it didn't work. the issue is just way too intermittent.

my keyboard devices on my sp3 device manager always shows 3x HID devices. I reckon its because:

1. my USB keyboard
2. the surface touch keyboard type cover
3. possibly the screen

i followed the instructions on the driver installation manually...

a) go to device manager

b) go to keyboards

c) look for one of the HID keyboard Device

d) right-click, go properties

e) go drivers

f) update driver

g) browse my computer for driver software

h) i went to c:\program files\surfaceupdate\drivers\accessory\surfacetypecover... but its irrelevant.

i) select let-me-pick from a list of available drivers

j) click have-disk

k) you'll see the surface type-cover filter device

l) proceed with next and install even though there's a warning.

what happened next was weird. I see the driver i installed, and I also see another surface type cover filter device.

I now have 2x surface type cover filter device, but my original type cover WORKS!

i don't know how long this will last, but its a good workaround.

going to restart now and see if it stays.

Hi

One year after without working with original keyboard, batterie issues and display without turning horizontal/vertical this **** has turned the display. Immediately tryed the keyboard and it worked!!!

It proves that is a Microsoft mistake.

2 weeks and the keyboard always worked.

Issue resolved !! laptop again :)

Version 1809

SO 17763.678

Best off luck !

what pisses me even more is that other than the bricked keyboard side,  the battery management is broken as well. 

Full charge the SP4, properly shut down, leave it overnight, and can't even turn on without plugging in the ac charger.  It drains the battery completely dry after every single shut down. 

My Lenovo battery can last a week by simply putting it to sleep.

MS fukd something related to the battery too in addition to the keyboard.  

Anyways,  it's a POS SP4 i have now. Don't even want to look at it as it frustrates me.  

I'll buy a Lenovo again next.

The problem is that the units are bricked. If you have more than one SP with a type cover, which I have, you will see that both keyboards work with the newer SP, and that neither work with the other. Nothing worked for me. Some people said they'd had some success after installing Windows 10.1903, but I was unable to install this with the Media Creation Tool. The install just kept failing silently.

I bought an external Bluetooth keyboard which, while adequate, is fiddly and detaches easily lacking the strong magnet of the original. In the end I shelled out $2600 for a fully-specified Lenovo Yoga X1. It's not as tablet-like as the SP, but it has a lovely screen, is very light, is great for writing on and best of all came with a 4-year warranty. After a self-bricking MS Band2 and a self-bricking SP4, I feel I've learned some lessons.