Type Cover not Working but ...

I have finally had a resolve, i am not sure where everyone lives but in the UK we are protected up to 6 years under the Sale of Goods act and a product like a tablet is covered for lasting a reasonable amount of time and satisfactory quality. If anyone else is in the UK please let me know and i will help if i can. 

To cut a long story short i called the shop PCWorld and told them the problem and they said it is outside of the 12 month warranty so i stated what i was pursuing under the sale of goods act and it covers you up to 6 years. The tablet 3 1/2 yrs old went in and they had to replace the motherboard and it is all working now and no charge!!! As we are covered under the Sale of Goods act. I have claimed a number of faulty goods back this way over the years.

good luck everyone!

Has anyone wiped the machine clean and started over? I've thought about that...just not worth the time.

What do I do now?... use it without a keyboard, and do only touch, but this is because I got a SP4 that has NO problems. 

Blue Tooth Keyboard is my next option for really using the device.

Wiping the machine clear and doing a total reset/restore is not the answer. The only stuff you can delete and restore is windows itself. The problem lies in the firmware deeper in the computer, now called UEFI but formerly was the chip known as BIOS. The user can't get into this UEFI area.

When you power on the computer UEFI boots into action first and it loads up the basic info so the computer can access keyboard, mouse, touch screen etc. Then it hands control over to Windows. Windows and its drivers know what's attached to it by reading the UEFI. When the UEFI doesn't load the basic keyboard info, Windows can't see it.

When I realized MS was not going to do anything about these faults I bought a bluetooth keyboard. I got the Brydge, which duplicates the size of the Surface but is a well made product. Since then I've seen smaller and cheaper keyboards the same format as the original. The advantage of the Brydge is that it holds the Surface upright without the kicker panel at the back, which is easier in some places.

As a long time supporter of Microsoft, the SP3 Type Cover issue is serious. I'm actually thinking this is why Consumer Reports took away the "recommended" status of the Surface.

Now for what I've done/not done.  I've deleted the Keyboard cover driver.. sometimes that works, sometimes (most of the time) it doesn't. 

I've drained batter... same as above.. sometime works some times doesn't.

Updated / restored / deleted everything I could think of... 

Has anyone wiped the machine clean and started over? I've thought about that...just not worth the time.

What do I do now?... use it without a keyboard, and do only touch, but this is because I got a SP4 that has NO problems. 

I started having problems early on with the SP3, things got fixed during the warranty period, but now that it's past warranty, not luck getting the keyboard issue resolved. I felt like it was a "lemon" (wish they had Lemon laws for computers). 

I'm kinda hoping there is a lawyer reading this that wants to create a class action lawsuit. I know all i'll probably get is a $50 certificate to Microsoft Store and the Lawyer will get lots more.... but something / anything would be worth Microsoft acknowledging that there is a problem.

Blue Tooth Keyboard is my next option for really using the device.

I'm sorry, I am not keeping track of what trade press journalists have authored

articles. I know Computer World has a couple of times. To the best of my

knowledge, Microsoft has never responded to anyone, anywhere and admitted any

kind of trending issue for this.

I am sure Microsoft is aware of the complaints. They have chosen to keep silent.

I do not work for Microsoft and am an unpaid volunteer.  if you want background

on what a Microsoft MVP is, see https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/Overview and for

Volunteer Moderators see

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/page/faq#faqWhosWho1

I can assure you that I have tried since this issue started trending to get a

response from Microsoft and have had no success.