Surface Book - keyboard and mouse freeze up

Anonymous
2015-10-31T19:53:35+00:00

Today is my first day where i have worked about 6 hours on this new machine. The keyboard and mouse has locked up 4 times where i had to reboot the machine to get it working again.  Last night it froze two times and today it froze 4 times. The onscreen keyboard would work but that is worthless when you're actually working.

I did turn off Bluetooth to disable the pen and the surface mouse - and will continue to monitor BUT this is pretty disappointing.

If anyone at MSFT actually reads this, i'm happy to send logs.

Last freeze 2:45 pm CST (not to self - if i need to look it up).

Damon

Surface | Surface Book | Power and battery

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Anonymous
2016-02-05T14:29:58+00:00

Hi Pr2459.

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you're experiencing.

What I would like you to try is what we call a 2-button shutdown, instructions below.

Step 1: As your Surface is powered on, press and hold the Power-button for 30 seconds.

Step 2: Press and hold the volume up-button and the power-button at the same time for atleast 15 seconds, then release both.

The Surface logotype might flash on the screen while performing this step, but just keep both buttons pressed for the 15 seconds.

Step 3: Wait for about 10 seconds after you released the buttons.

Step 4: Start your Surface again by pressing and releasing the Power-button.

Let me know if this solves your issue.

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Anonymous
2016-02-14T15:55:42+00:00

I have exactly the same issue - keyboard and trackpad stop working. When this occurs the only keyboard key that functions is the Detach key. Detaching and re-attaching the clipboard from/to the keyboard base temporarily solves the problem. I have seen this happen waking from sleep and hibernate as well as spontaneously while browsing a website. I have applied all the updates, cleaned the connectors, etc. The symptom suggests (to me) that the clipboard has lost communication with the keyboard base. It happens to me roughly 2-3 times per day.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-04-30T01:10:59+00:00

    The issue that all the sudden the surface keyboard stops working occurred just recently for me. I did have it happen twice within the last two weeks after hours of using the device. A reboot fixed it. This is after the 4/19 update.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-04-29T15:33:55+00:00

    I've applied the firmware update, but the freezes keep occurring.  If you wait 10 minutes it might come back, but I have many meetings often back to back and it really is aggravating when the keyboard freezes and you are forced to use the soft keyboard because you can't type on the keys.  Often I'm missing important notes or other key information because I'm fighting the computer.  Love the device's design, but this debilitating issue has been there from day one.   At least the update did fix the Windows Hello issue that started with the update before that.  Come on Microsoft, we need these productivity issues resolved asap.

    Crazy thing for me is this wasn't happening to me from day 1. It happened to me after the February update.  

    From om now on I'm calling these updates "Break Days" is in "what else can they break that they are trying to fix"

    like me you this has made me wildly unproductive.  Imagine doing a PPT in front of 50 customers and suddenly the entire screen locks up and doesn't work. Then in order to continue you need to actually reboot the machine and half your audience is checked out mentally not the mention the credibility you've lost. 

    The last time it happened I said "You've all seen the really nice device in commercials for the Surface Book?"  Most nod yes. 

    "Well this is what you get when you drop over $2000 on a productivity device". 

    So far I've told that story to over 150 people and now I use my MacBook from 2013 that I hadn't booted up in 8 months and works flawlessly.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-04-29T04:06:45+00:00

    I've applied the firmware update, but the freezes keep occurring.  If you wait 10 minutes it might come back, but I have many meetings often back to back and it really is aggravating when the keyboard freezes and you are forced to use the soft keyboard because you can't type on the keys.  Often I'm missing important notes or other key information because I'm fighting the computer.  Love the device's design, but this debilitating issue has been there from day one.   At least the update did fix the Windows Hello issue that started with the update before that.  Come on Microsoft, we need these productivity issues resolved asap.

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