Surface Laptop 4 + dock - Mouse & keyboard lag / freeze

Anonymous
2021-12-17T17:47:47+00:00

Hi,

This issue has been plaguing the Surface products - and I'm "glad" to report that the Laptop 4 is also suffering from it.

The problem: When I connect USB peripherals (especially gaming mice and keyboards) to the Surface Dock, they lag and/or hang every X time.

The same issue has been reported for the Surface Book 2 and Laptop 3. I own the latter and I've experienced this issue on that device personally. It has been fixed since, so I'm kind of disappointed to see the same issue on the Laptop 4 now.

To make matters worse, I've also experienced this issue with a Logitech MX Keys keyboard (not a gaming device). Every few minutes, sometimes more often, a key haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangs <- and causes stuff like that.

As I understand, the high report rate of gaming devices causes the Dock to disconnect-then-reconnect the usb devices every so often. Another cause I've read about was recent Windows versions powering down USB ports or something like that.

I can confirm that the same Dock (v1, in this case) with a Laptop 3 does not suffer from this issue. It's just the Laptop 4.

The only way to work around it is to connect the device via bluetooth (not always an option as many gaming devices do not have BT) or plug the USB in the laptop (not the Dock). This works for one device, but unfortunately I'm one of those guys who insist on using both a keyboard and a mouse :))

I would really appreciate a fix for this issue. Thanks!

Related support topics (barely scratching the Surface (ha!) here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/mouse-scrolling-lag-surface-dock-connection-issues/bdd8362c-e176-4d37-9298-c21dd260be04 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/mouse-scrolling-lag-surface-dock-connection-issues/bdd8362c-e176-4d37-9298-c21dd260be04

Surface | Surface Laptop | Performance and maintenance

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-01-30T15:33:54+00:00

    I am having the issue and I just upgraded to 11 and am having the same issue. There are three of us reporting this issue now. What else you suggest we do beside not hooking a keyboard up to it (which isn't option).

    Just frustrated.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-02-02T00:15:58+00:00

    Hi all,

    I am having the same issue with a brand new Surface Laptop 4 13.5" (32GB/1TB). I am also using a Surface Dock 2 connected to a KVM via USB, with an attached keyboard and a high polling rate mouse. The laptop is running Windows 11 installed clean from USB and all available firmware and software updates have been applied.

    I have also experienced the same issue in the past, on a Surface Book 2 connected to the exact same setup. With the SB2, the issue was resolved by following this guidance: https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/aujg3d/fix_naughty_usbintroducing_a_ridiculous_usb_bug/ 
    Unfortunately, limiting the processor frequency on the SL4 did not work as far as I can tell. I continued to look in processor power settings to possibly resolve the issue.

    I found that when I set the value of the "Processor idle demote threshold" to 100% the issue was resolved. You can change this value by using this command for "Plugged in" state or AC power:

    I make no claims that this is safe to do. You are changing this setting at your own risk.

    powercfg -SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEDEMOTE 0x00000064

    To set the demote threshold back to default (40%):

    powercfg -SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEDEMOTE 0x00000028

    This did not require a reboot in my testing and the effect is almost immediate. I have set this back and forth for the past few hours and it seems to resolve the issue completely. Not sure what this change means for the idle states or processor power and may completely disable some idle states or all of them.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-02-04T15:54:51+00:00

    Branden,

    Thanks for your post! So far (knocking on wood) my issue is now resolved. Much appreciated!

    Based upon your link to Reddit, looks like there is more of a better community on there than help here.

    Thanks!

    John

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-03-26T02:37:52+00:00

    Hello,

    I have the same problem. My new Surface Laptop 4 with Surface Dock 2 not work correctly. Every few minutes, sometimes more often, the mouse and keyboard freeze / lag. I'm trying a different mouse, a different keyboard, updates, diagnostics, upgrading to Windows 11 and the problem is still the same.

    Is the repair permanent and working without problems?

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-04-27T16:27:55+00:00

    I have the same issue with Surface Laptop 4 13inch 32g black, always an issue with connecting my MX keyboard and surface dock 2. Windows 11 sucks. my 1st generation Surface Laptop still has windows 10 and works 10000000000 better

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