Type Cover not Working but ...

So what do you know?

This is happening in the USA. I have had no help from anything, least of all Microsoft

I've made some progress on this issue but wasn't able to completely resolve it. Tossing my information here in hopes someone else can manage to take things further than I could.

Background:

• Surface Pro 3
• Device worked perfectly until the firmware update that was issued in 2019.
• Firmware update was reported as failed by Windows update. I remember the firmware update failing partway through it was being applied. System reverted the firmware, rebooted, and installed other updates. Later, I attempted the firmware update again and it worked.
• Type cover port no longer worked after the failure. Occasionally would resolve itself a small percentage of the time when doing a hard reset (volume up+power) but extremely rarely and would fail again at next reboot.
• Battery now drains when fully powered off; this did not occur before update.
• System reports fully healthy during all diagnostics. Battery shows as healthy with very little loss of capacity.
• Energy report shows type cover device causing connected standby issues.
• Other type covers do not work.
• No physical damage to Surface device. Type cover connection pins appear fine; cleaning them using alcohol (with device fully powered off) did not help.
• No software changes help; factory resets/windows reinstalls/repartitioning/etc.

The firmware update is definitely implicated as the cause, especially considering how the firmware update failed the first time around. 

Some people pointed out that the only option is to wait for Microsoft to release a new firmware update; the reflashing of the firmware will likely cause it to apply correctly. However, given the age of the device it's increasingly unlikely that Microsoft will ever do this.

However, there is a way to force firmware to install.:

1. Open registry editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FirmwareResources.
2. You should see four GUIDs, representing the Surface Pro's four firmware devices.
3. For each GUID, create a REG_DWORD named "Policy" and set it to a value of "1". This enables firmware rollbacks and downgrades.
4. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\UEFI\ESRT
5. You should see the same four GUIDs, representing the Surface Pro's four firmware devices.
6. For each GUID, review the "LowestSupportedVersion" value. This is the older firmware version you'll be able to downgrade to. For me, the EC was 0x340100 (34.01.00) and the UEFI was 0x30b0a28 (3.11.2600).
7. Go to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4023482/surface-download-drivers-and-firmware and select your Surface Pro device.
8. Click Download
9. In the list of downloads you will see multiple files named SurfacePro#_Win10_#####_#######_#.msi. Roughly speaking, the first number (e.g. 18362) is the version. I noticed that 17134 and 18362 were the latest firmware, while 16299 was the previous firmware.
10. With the appropriate MSI file downloaded, run msiexec /a <msifilename> /qb TARGETDIR=C:\surfacefirmware to extract the contents of the MSI
11. In the extracted files, locate the "Firmware" directory and open each appropriate subdirectory (e.g. EC and UEFI). Open the .inf file and review the driver version and date to find the appropriate version you want.
12. Disconnect your device from the internet to prevent Device Manager from immediately downloading newer drivers (might not be necessary).
13. Only do the next steps for ONE firmware device at a time to avoid mixing them up.
14. Open Device Manager and expand the Firmware section. Right click on the firmware device you're downgrading and select "Uninstall Device". Enable "Delete the driver software for this device" and press uninstall.
15. Scan for hardware changes. If the firmware device shows an alert symbol next to or still has the normal name (starting with "Surface Pro"), repeat the previous step again. Continue deleting the driver software until the device shows as "System Firmware"
16. Right click the "System Firmware" device and select "Update Driver"
17. Select "Browse my computer for driver software"
18. Select "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer"
19. Select "Have Disk..."
20. Browse to the downloaded/extracted Surface firmware files and select the INF file reviewed earlier
21. Reboot your computer

If it worked, you'll see the Surface perform a system firmware update and downgrade to the selected version.

I was able to successfully downgrade the Embedded Controller (EC) to version 38.14.80.0, but that didn't solve the type cover issue. 

The problem is that I wasn't able to downgrade the UEFI (main system firmware) because the supported previous versions must be greater than 3.11.2600.0. Microsoft only ever released one firmware that meets that requirement - the latest 3.11.2650.0 that broke my Surface. Argh. So close!

Hopefully someone can take this further and figure out a way to force a reinstallation of the same firmware. I figure there was some sort of data corruption during the firmware update process that affected the internal data but not the actual "binary" of the firmware.

For my Surface Pro 3 type cover, I have tried all suggestions and they have not worked.

In response to your question 'How do I upgrade the firmware?'

I don't know how much you know of the internal operation of the surface, so this might be a bit basic but it might also help others who happen to read it.

There are two levels of software in the computer. The top level is the Windows operating system and all its drivers etc. These are easily managed by the user and can be changed at will. When you install a new program on the computer it goes here.

The lower level is the firmware that is the coding applied to the UEFI - the United Extensible Firmware Interface. In earlier computers this was called the BIOS - Basic Input Output System. This is the chip that turns on first when you boot the Surface and tells the rest of the system what memory address to put everything, such as hard drive, video board etc.

The UEFI coding is not accessible to the user. Updates come out from MS as they see fit and are automatically applied. We can update top level software drivers etc, but the UEFI is locked away from the user.

If you go into Settings/Update and Security/View Update History/Driver Updates you will see that some of them are for Surface System and others are for Surface Firmware.

The problems we are all having with the keyboard and battery management are due to errors in how one or more firmware updates have been applied. Although we can chase up new keyboard drivers at the top level, it is the UEFI that tells the computer what memory address those drivers have to use. And the UEFI is not giving out that info. Imagine being in a five piece band but the sound guy only has a four channel mixer and the guitarist has nowhere to plug in.

What many of us have asked in the past is, 'How can I roll back firmware updates?' And the answer is, we can't. Software updates can be rolled back, although MS is making that less easy. Firmware updates are there to stay until MS applies the next one.

And a final point. I don't know why your keyboard sometimes works and sometimes doesn't as you have described but some people have found a fix by cleaning the contacts. This is not a symptom of the firmware fault. Being detachable is not the problem, that's just a design thing so the Surface can be used as a tablet. Many of us have survived the frustration by buying a Bluetooth keyboard. The one I bought is a Brydge and is similar size to the Surface itself and it makes the Surface into a normal laptop configuration. Since buying this I've seen bluetooth keyboards the same design as the original Typecover and they are a much cheaper.