Keyboard on new Surface Pro 11 does not always pair with unit upon startup

Earlier I posted a detailed description of my experience with tech support at Microsoft in dealing with my faulty keyboard on my Surface Pro 11. At that time I was waiting for a call back from a supervisor in sales concerning the company policy of replacing my keyboard with a refurbished one. I objected because my Surface Pro 11 was essentially brand new (less than 60 days old; still within the return window). I NEVER received the return call I was promised.

On Jan. 26, I again contacted tech support, and let them know I wanted to either send in my machine to have them repair the problem or get a full refund. Without any dispute from the tech support person, and after looking at my case file, they suggested they would put me in touch with a sales person who could authorize a full refund. I was just within the 60 day return period. The sales rep authorized a return, and sent return mailing labels. The processing of my refund for 4 years of Microsoft Complete (extended warranty service) occurred immediately. The remainder of the refund will occur once the machine is received at their facility in Texas. In the course of talking with the sales rep, I learned that when the Surface Pro 11th edition was first issued, the problem with the keyboard not being recognized by the computer was discovered. The problem, according to the sales rep, has been corrected in later versions of this model (11 edition). He concluded that maybe I had received one of these earlier versions of the machine--I did not get into a discussion of why Microsoft was STILL shipping problematic machines with a well-known problem. He offered me his guarantee that if I wanted to purchase another one, he would personally see to it that I receive a version that works. I'll be testing out that offer once my return and refund have been processed.

While I was on the phone with the sales rep, I wanted to try to reset my machine--it failed twice (the sales rep walked me through the instructions). He then decided it would be best to connect me with tech support to be able to reset the machine. Tech support, after some discussion, suggested I create a recovery drive on a 32Gb flash drive. I did that the next day (I had been on the phone with Microsoft for just less than 2 hours at that point on 1/26). The tech guy sent detailed instructions via a link, which I followed. This attempt to reset failed as well. So I called tech support again. This person, remotely controlling my machine, performed a scan of my OS, and found some corrupted files, which the scan facility corrected, according to him. We next tried to reset the machine by using a cloud-based source (instead of the flash drive) of the Windows 11 software. That attempt to reset the machine failed as well, at which point the tech person concluded that there was a hardware problem, and that I should just return the machine as is, stating that once returned to Microsoft that they would erase the drive.

I have spent many hours working through these issues with Microsoft. My conclusion is that I was shipped a lemon that had corrupted OS files, and an undiagnosed hardware problem. I have lost trust in Microsoft. They make a great computer/tablet in the Surface Pro, but the fact that they continue to ship a version of the machine that has known problems means (at the least) that they have no inventory control to prevent shipping these problematic machines. I recommend that everyone on this thread consider contacting tech support to see if there is a remedy, regardless of how long you've had your 11th edition. If possible, document earlier inquiries with tech support. In my case persistence paid off within the 60-day return window. I cannot predict how they will handle an identical complaint after that 60-day window has passed. Good luck everyone!

Had the exact same issue. Tried using 2 different keyboards but the problem persisted. Returned the surface and got another replacement from Amazon. The new one works perfectly with no issue at all. I guess early releases had some inherent hardware problems as the prev post mentioned. Tried all the fixes suggested here and none of them worked.

UPDATE: The new replacecment... worked for a day... then back to the same problem. so frustrating!

Personally, I'd still like some info on what the actual problem is. What component, driver, assembly, etc.
And any acknowledgement that there is a problem should be accompanied by a link or reference to a problem ticket tracking the issue.

Without documentation, comments even from MS staff are just heresay.

As much as I find the issue annoying, I do really like the device.

So I'll keep mine and continue hoping that they push a patch some day.

Thank you so much for this! I have only 5 days left on my warranty, so this was very timely.

I called tonight, and the support agent told me she doesn't have any record of this being a known problem. (Interesting....As someone else suggested here, it would be nice to have a case number to tell them to look at.) Of course, she wants to walk me through various troubleshooting steps. She connected to my computer, checked to make sure Defender was up to date and all my updates were current. I hadn't had it on for a while, so we needed to run some updates. She also installed any new drivers and firmware updates, then uninstalled and reinstalled the keyboard drivers.

At that point, of course the keyboard worked on a boot up, so she's supposed to call me back tomorrow. In the meantime, I will try turning it on and off several times to see what happens. I'm hopeful that either she has managed to fix it or they will give me a replacement. She sounded somewhat encouraging about that possibility, which leads me to think maybe if it's not listed as a known problem, at least they're aware that they're not supposed to fight requests for replacement. Time will tell, and I'll try to update this.

Be wary that this issue might crop up later on down the line as the staff here have had their surface pro 7's for about 3 years now and the issue has only started appearing which makes me think it's an firmware update that caused this issue.