Surface Pro 2017 touchpad mouse freezing

What I had noticed during my time with this issue is that ethernet/wifi/bluetooth/connection in the tab of Performance in the task manager would cap at 100% during the freeze. It could be both hardware and software related.

Did you try and remove the pre-installed microsoft 365 using the MS tool and run the machine with no software (lean) installed on it?

I now have a third Surface Pro 7 from the Microsoft Store. Since I have already had this problem on two previous machines, I have watched very carefully to see when this cursor freezing problem first occurs - is it before or after Windows updating, before or after installation of Office 365? In fact, with the new Surface Pro 7 received today the touchpad cursor started freezing and becoming unresponsive to my finger moving on the touchpad when I was on the first set up screen - this is the very first screen, the one where Cortana is asking you to select your language! Rather than selecting language and clicking next, I took some time to move the cursor around the screen a bit to see what would happen, and sure enough it started to freeze in exactly the same way.

As with the two previous machines I have tried, the problem immediately goes away when I am running on battery power.

When the cursor freezes I can always get it working again by momentarily detaching and reattaching the power connector from the right hand side of the screen. Sometimes I can unfreeze the cursor working by touching the rear of the machine. Sometimes I can unfreeze it by removing my finger from the trackpad for a few moments. 

I have now experienced this problem with 3 Surface Pros, 3 power supplies, and 3 Signature type covers. I see the problem no matter which power point in my flat I use, or when I draw power from a battery backup surge protecting and uninterruptible power supply.

I have reached the conclusion that this is a fault with all Surface Pro computers. How could I have been so unlucky as to be sent 3 faulty ones? I will have to decide if I like the Surface Pro sufficiently for its "pros" that I can live with this "con". But as Roger says above, Microsoft needs to admit there is a problem and help customers resolve it. As both a Microsoft shareholder and occasional collaborator with Microsoft Research Labs, I feel disappointed that the Surface Pro is sold with this hardware deficiency.

Maybe a high proportion of users do not notice, or think it is a normal way for a touchpad to behave, or use their Surface Pro in a manner in which the problem is not apparent to them. I have colleagues, for example, who only use their Surface Pro with an external mouse. Others may use it only as a tablet. Perhaps it is the Signature Type Cover and the more basic Type Cover works better? One Microsoft agent did suggest to me that I should order the basic type cover, rather than the signature one.

Before you return it, are you willing to try something out?

Remove all traces of office 365 from your computer using the tool in the link bellow. I was only able to remove it completely using the tool provided by MS in OPTION 2 bellow and then test the surface: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/uninstall-office-from-a-pc-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8

Thanks,

That's not the problem ... I had the issue from the outset before adding 365.

You're wasting your time.

Roger

I had a new Surface Pro 7 8GB 128GB on 27/03/20 and it arrived with this issue out of the box. Trackpad cursor freezes after a short time of use on mains power. Cursor unfreezes with power cable is removed. My SP7 is fully updated from Windows update and no other software installed.

Going to Microsoft Support and speaking with a chat agent, I completed steps of running diagnostics and resetting the computer. The problem remained just as bad. The agent decided it was a hardware issue and authorised a return. A new SP7 arrived today 31/03/20 and it has exactly the same problem! In fact it is worse, in that the cursor goes into frozen state more quickly after I attach the power cable. Further chat with agents - they are going to send me a new power supply. But I am dubious that will help.

I like the Surface Pro 7, and it works great on battery power, but is frustrating and unusable while on mains power. I suspect some manufacturing fault of inadequate shielding of the trackpad from magnetic interference caused by the power supply. But who knows? I have Surface Laptop 2 and have never had any problem with its trackpad.

The last Microsoft chat agent told me my case would be escalated to a more advanced technician. I mentioned that there are over 200 people reporting the same problem in https://answers.microsoft.com/. He said they have nothing about this problem in their database.

He wrote, "... we've never had a case similar to this one. I wish that any customer that has this issue to present themselves so that we can have plenty of cases to escalate for this"

Sorry to pour cold water on the so called solutions to the freezing cursor problem but, in my experience, there is an inherent fault with the Surface Pro that MS has refused to acknowledge ever since the product was introduced. All the fixes that have been helpfully suggested on this forum ( surface pen, battery charger, battery only mode, power only mode etc ) may work for some but not for everybody.

I took delivery of mine in September, 2018 and it was only after I received a second replacement in the summer of last year ( the replacement came with a 256GB hard drive instead of the original 128GB !!) that the problem finally disappeared. However, there was still no explanation as to what caused the fault so it was simply pot luck when it was finally solved. Pretty poor performance from a company with the size and resource of MS.

Bottom line is that my SP is now working as it should have done from Day 1 ( and is a terrific machine ) but my next laptop will not be from Microsoft. I have told MS this ( no response ) and suggest everybody else does the same. Maybe, just maybe, somebody there will listen, take action and, above all. communicate with us !