Surface Pro 4 Type Cover Stopped Working

Anonymous
2017-09-20T12:40:04+00:00

The type cover on my Surface Pro 4 suddenly stopped working.  There are several similar issues on this forum, but none quite fit what I am experiencing.

I tried cleaning the contacts, doing the 2-button reset, using system refresh, and finally I "restored" windows from a USB drive.  And then it worked again! Until the next day, when the type cover no longer worked.  

So, I tried 2-button reset again, didn't help.  I did a little more research, looked at the device manager and noticed only the HID keyboard driver showed up.  I saw online that upgrading Windows 10 to version 1703 seemed to fix things for some folks experiencing this issue, so I tried that, and it worked again! Until the next day.  I tried 2-button reset again, didn't help. So I tried downloading the latest firmware and drivers from Microsoft; no help. I ran the SFC utility, it didn't find any issues.  I created a new USB restore drive, and restored from it, but that didn't help this time!  I have not tried restoring from my "old" USB restore drive, because I think that may be a temporary fix, but wouldn't help permanently. I have taken the type cover off and  put it back on, giggled it like crazy, etc, but I really don't think this is a hardware problem.

So, as a final step, I am going to re-image my machine.  In the meantime, any suggestions?  I'd be willing to buy a new type cover if I thought it would help (my type cover is a #QC7-00001). I'm tired of spending 3 hours a day trying to get my keyboard to work!

Moved from: Surface / Surface Pro 4 / Install, update, and repair

Surface | Accessories | Surface Type Cover

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Barb Bowman 80,810 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2017-10-02T17:05:46+00:00

Ruth,

My contact gave me the following for you to try (this is only for non US typecovers for  SP4). Please let me know if you try these and results either way:

Workaround #1

  1. Power+volume up to boot into UEFI settings.
  2. Choose Devices.
  3. Toggle Type Cover Port off and then on.

Workaround #2

  1. Check Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard and ensure that Filter Keys is disabled.
  2. Check BIOS and make sure Type Cover is enabled in Devices.
  3. In Device Manager, click on the View menu > Show Hidden.
  4. Under HID (Human Interface Devices), scroll down and find Surface Pro 4 Typecover Integration > right-click - Uninstall. (chose option to delete driver/software.)
  5. In Device Manager, under Keyboard, if you do not see the type cover, no need to do anything else. I; if you do see it, right-click, uninstall (check to remove software).
  6. Shut down (hold shift for a clean shutdown).
  7. Hold power and volume up for 30 seconds. The device will flash to EFI and back until it eventually powers off fully.
  8. Power on the device. Now the keyboard should work, and all the drivers should be re-installed that we removed earlier.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-08-26T20:04:09+00:00

    Ok so I have been having a very similar problem with my surface pro 4 type cover. It has been a very weird issue but i think i have discovered the issue with mine.

    At least on my computer i have recognized a flaw in the magnetic sensor system inside the computer. It seems to have nothing to do with the key board. My keyboard will work sometimes but then once it is flipped around so that the computer is in tablet mode (the keyboard is not fully detached just the bar magnet that attaches across the bottom of the screen is detached) the keyboard stops working once it is reattached. This led me to believe that their is some internal circuit that gets activated by the magnet in the keyboard. This does not have anything to do with the key board driver. 

    So, to fix this you need to go into you "device manager" and scroll down to you HID sensors, it says something along the lines of "HID Sensor Collection V2" in the drop down. Right click on this and go to properties > update driver > Browse my computer for driver software > "let me pick from available drivers on my computer" > then choose the other version "HID-compliant Device".

    This will change the software for those magnetic sensors in your computer. Then do the normal routine of Shutdown/Restart and let everything reboot. This worked for me after weeks of trying to figure out this problem. I hope it works for everyone else. 

    Take care and good luck.

    Not only did this not help fix the keyboard issue, it also disabled the rotation sensor. How do I reverse this?? Now I have 2 problems!

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