Keyboard cover randomly not working

[rADo]

My Surface 3 Pro sometimes does not register the keyboard. It happens many times after reboot, at login screen, but NOT always, and also during usual work, when I re/attach the keyboard, it lights-up, but no keys work.

I did try to delete keyboard device from Device Manager, reinstall latest drivers, etc., but to no avail.

Shall I RMA the device or kbd?

 

[GreyFox7]

How long have you had it, I had a problem with my keyboard on my old RT at first but after a couple days it settled down. It looked to me like the block where the pins connect was curved slightly but it straightened out after being connected for a while. Also inspect the pin and contacts to make sure none are recessed or have foreign matter on them, if necessary clean with a soft cloth and optionally rubbing alcohol; follow with a shot of Rum or Tequila for yourself. Important: do not reverse the alcohol use.

Oh, any chance of trying a different keyboard ... is there a store nearby that might have one???

 

[rADo]

I tried plum brandy and 10x re/attaching the keyboard, and it seems it did the trick. Thank you

 

[rADo]

Seems not a permanent fix. Tried to remove the cover for a minute, attach it again, and keyboard did not work. Had to re/attach it five times to make a connection. Not sure if cover or Surface itself has loose connections, but seems like a hardware issue to me.

 

[GreyFox7]

Seems not a permanent fix. Tried to remove the cover for a minute, attach it again, and keyboard did not work. Had to re/attach it five times to make a connection. Not sure if cover or Surface itself has loose connections, but seems like a hardware issue to me.

About all you can do is clean and inspect the connections... and remove/reinstall the driver... after a while repeating those leads to doing the same thing over and over again... and we know what that means. It could be hardware which is where you need to switch one to isolate who the culprit is. Try your keyboard on another device or vice versa. Odds are it's probably the keyboard since it flexes.

 

[markusbeutel]

Have had this happen on a few SP3s before I returned mine for good - first few instances it was the typecover, and replacing it fixed the issue - one time it was the SP3 itself, where it no longer recognized any typecover attached to it, and I had to get the unit itself replaced. Take it in to the MS store if you can, they'll replace either the machine or typecover no questions asked.

 

[rADo]

No MS Store unfortunately in Czechia, where I live. In fact, local MS does not even sell Surfaces online. Had to order one from Germany, shipment was free via UPS though.

Will RMA the thing. Should not happen to €1200+ device.

 

[markusbeutel]

No MS Store unfortunately in Czechia, where I live. In fact, local MS does not even sell Surfaces online. Had to order one from Germany, shipment was free via UPS though.

Will RMA the thing. Should not happen to €1200+ device.

Maybe before you do, go to a store that has Surface's on display, and try out the display typecovers on your device just to make sure that it's not the Surface itself, as I went through this once as previously mentioned where I had a typecover replaced, got home, then found out that it was actually my Surface that was the problem.

 

[GreyFox7]

... Should not happen to €1200+ device.

Well failures have always occurred... they occurred when computers routinely cost $2000, and they occurred when the cost $3000, and when they cost $5000 and even when they cost a million or ten million. The result of making them smaller with fewer or NO moving parts and fewer or NO connections is fewer failures occur but they still do.

 

[rADo]

Sure Will report how Microsoft will solve this. Filed a new service request at https://myservice.surface.com/en-IE/pages/welcome.aspx ..

 

[rodmartinelli]

Hi . I have experiencing some trouble to setup my surface cover keyboard. It is a new device and has never worked. It appears in device manager as HID Keyboard but not Surface Cover . Tried to uninstall drivers and reinstall but still unsucessful. Tried to "reset" drivers by holding Volume up + Power button for 10 seconds but it has just took me to bios menu. Does anyone knows if there is a different way to reset drivers or to change HID Keyboard driver to Surface proper driver? Thanks.