Surface Book 3 - external keyboard and mouse

Looking through event viewer I can see the following events that seem to be related to the issue.

Under system, I get the following first

Level: Information

Eventid: 105

General: Power source change.

Source: kernel-power

Then under application around 3 seconds later

Level: Error

Eventid: 514

General: SurfaceOemPanel cannot be found

Source: SurfaceOemPanel

Does anyone else have something similar to this?

I've also got a powered USB hub running off my Surface Dock (the 2 USB ports on the back weren't enough and I don't want to use the ones on the front), but it makes no difference whether I plug the keyboard into :

• the powered USB hub.
• the Surface Dock 2.
• the Surface Book 3 directly.

Problem occurs either way as long as I have the SB3 in a low power state.

Perhaps your specific hub never enters a low power state if the PC does, so avoids the problem? Not sure.

But I know for a fact that having an external powered USB hub doesn't in and of itself resolve the issue. I wish :(

TL:DR: Also have the issue, but in my case the situation seems to be improved by using an additional powered USB2/3 hub.

Mine has the mouse stutter/stick the keyboard miss or repeat issue.

This is my second SB3, the first I exchanged as it was under 14 days when I started fighting this - as far as I was concerned it was DOA. I had a case open with MS back in early August.

After a good start the replacement started again. Not to mention the replacement also is slightly misaligned when closing the book - but that's another issue other have experienced too.

I've pretty much tried everything that's discussed in this thread and various other forums, each time I though I'd found a solution.

I'm on the last 'solution' before trying an insiders build because I hear there are updated surface drivers available.

What currently seems to work for me is laughable, but... seems to do the job.

I'm using a powered usb2/3 hub, plugged into my surface2 dock.

It's not perfect, I can't use the keyboard and mouse I originally intended to, but so far - at least I can type this without wanting to pack it all up and send it back.

My current 'working' setup is as follows:

Surface Book 3 i7, 32GB, 1TB, Nvidia, 15"

Surface Dock2

External monitor 2560x1440 (AOC Q3279Wg5B)

Surface USB-C to HDMI dongle

Windows 10 Pro 2004

Microsoft Basic keyboard (wired 600)

Microsoft Sidewinder mouse (I've just swapped this after establishing that my "MS Basic Optical Mouse 2.0" worked reliably for an extended period)

Powered "mbeat" USB2/3 hub

The ethernet port is in use*

The only difference with the above setup and the intended, is obviously I didn't plan on needing a powered USB hub, to support the powered surface dock2 USB hub and my intended keyboard was a Razer chroma cyanosa. These bar the Surface Dock 2, all work fine with my Surface Pro 5.

NB: I only bought the Dock2 because when I initially encountered this with my first SB3, I thought it was power/throughput related because I encountered it during file transfer using an external drive and surely the improved Dock2 would be the fix. Ha.

* I highlight the ethernet port above because in my case I can reliably reproduce the issue by doing 1 of 2 things:

• Perform file transfers across the network or Internet downloads. Sometimes just general Internet use.
• Perform file transfers using Dock2 connected external USB drive (either locally to/from the Surface Book or across the LAN).

I could however enjoy random, intermittent keyboard or mouse issues without the above 2 scenarios, I just could not forecast them occurring (aside from, when deep into a task realistically).

I have also experienced the issue directly connected. It appears in my case only to be experienced when using an external keyboard and mouse.

Also get it when I just have the mouse (either one) plugged in and use the built-in keyboard.

I've tried 3 different keyboard and mouse combos. I've tried using Wifi only (see above about intermittent).

I have not tried BT keyboards or mice - like others have said, that's besides the point - this is USB. Something that in 2020, ought to be a solid and reliable basic function.

I've tried resetting the Windows install, using 1911 and 2004. The Surface drivers are the current available - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=101315.

I'm not sure if it's a direct relationship, but I started noticing "SurfaceSerialHubDriver" errors in the event log (ACK fail, timeout, invalid signature). When I installed the above update, these seemed to go away, till I noticed them this morning (I had a few days without them). Still though, whilst I didn't see the errors, I still had the keyboard and mouse issues.

Have also tried tweaking registry, power management, installing Intel and Nvidia drivers. Was hopeful the Nvidia drivers would help because of the USB-C component, but no.

Sorry for this long post. Maybe it will help? At this stage I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I still have a few days on the 60 day satisfaction return (Aus, MS Store), but I'd wait it out if only I KNEW for certain this was a driver/software issue. I can't help but feel even if this is fixed by an update - it's just masking a hardware/design/capacity issue. I've wasted weeks on this migrating; my stuff back and forth, rebuilding, testing and trying to get some work done...

If you got this far - thanks for reading. And confirmed - I managed to complete this, without any visible keyboard or mouse issue, using my sidewinder mouse and MS basic keyboard, plugged into my power USB2/3 hub, plugged into my Dock2, plugged into my SB3 with external monitor and network connected to the Dock2.

I don't know about a Bluetooth keyboard, but I have a problem using the built-in keyboard and a Bluetooth mouse with and ONE external monitor. NOTHING else. I have been trying to remove the trouble shooting points, to no avail.  

As of yet though I only have the problem when I am connected to the MS dock. Knock on wood.