SP3 Pen - Have to press very hard!

[Dellaclearing]

Hi guys

As the title suggests, the behavior of my pen suddenly changed about 3 weeks ago and now I need to find out why and fix!

My SP3 detects the pen fine as whenever I hover over the screen the cursor follows it exactly so I doubt it's a battery problem, but to actually draw or click with the pen I have to press VERY hard which is probably no good for the screen or the pen so I haven't been using it. Now I need to do some drawing work in Photoshop and need my pen functionality back!

This was never a problem before, I could press very lightly on the screen and draw naturally or click without any issues, at first I thought the pen was broken or wasn't linked to the screen but then discovered it still worked if I press very hard.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[vxm]

Have you changed settings in Surface app? Maybe it rolled back to defaults, which, for me require hard pressing to get full strokes?
Do you have Wintab driver installed? I think PS doesn't need it, but I'm not sure as I installed it as soon as I unpacked my tablet.
Finally, maybe pen driver itself went nuts? Have you tried disabling/enabling it? If that won't help, maybe uninstall it completely and install it again using Windows Update?

TBH I'm not sure what might be the case with your pen, but I would check these things first

 

[sharpuser]

One more thing to check: Have you introduced any new electromagnetic environment such as WiFi frequencies, lighting, proximity to communications equipment, etc? The pen works by sensing and amplifying small induced currents surrounding the Surface.

One member found that pen trouble was due to fluorescent lighting in one particular room.

 

[vxm]

Oh and btw, have you tried installing or plugging wacom tablet to your SP3? Intuos I tried using (got it for free with software purchase and was eager to check how it works) was working well but completely messed SP3's pen- no pressure, had to press rather hard to get anything, reinstalling driver helped

 

[Dellaclearing]

Have you changed settings in Surface app? Maybe it rolled back to defaults, which, for me require hard pressing to get full strokes?
Do you have Wintab driver installed? I think PS doesn't need it, but I'm not sure as I installed it as soon as I unpacked my tablet.
Finally, maybe pen driver itself went nuts? Have you tried disabling/enabling it? If that won't help, maybe uninstall it completely and install it again using Windows Update?

TBH I'm not sure what might be the case with your pen, but I would check these things first

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply!
This may sound odd but I don't actually know what the Surface app is?! I've only ever used my SS3 in Desktop mode, never in Metro so I'm not too sure which settings I could have changed.

I installed the WinTab drivers probably a day or 2 after getting my Surface as I knew I'd be using it for Photoshop, Flash and other art work.

I'll have a look through my control panel and uninstall the pen drivers, find the latest drivers from Microsoft and re install them to see if it helps.

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Dellaclearing]

One more thing to check: Have you introduced any new electromagnetic environment such as WiFi frequencies, lighting, proximity to communications equipment, etc? The pen works by sensing and amplifying small induced currents surrounding the Surface.

One member found that pen trouble was due to fluorescent lighting in one particular room.

Hi Sharpcolorado and thanks for your time and assistance!

It can't be anything related to the environment I'm using my SP3 in as the issue is present wherever I use, home, work, on the train... everywhere!

 

[Dellaclearing]

Oh and btw, have you tried installing or plugging wacom tablet to your SP3? Intuos I tried using (got it for free with software purchase and was eager to check how it works) was working well but completely messed SP3's pen- no pressure, had to press rather hard to get anything, reinstalling driver helped

Haha, that's unlucky! I had a small Wacom Bamboo Pen + Touch tablet for a few years until I decided I wanted or could afford something I could draw directly onto the screen with.

I've never used it with my Surface though and actually forgot I had it! Now you've reminded me I can donate it to my younger brother!

 

[rkz]

Just a note: I started having problems with my pen a month after I bought my sp3. It would sometimes require hard pressure, other times would intermittently work, other times would start writing on the screen when I was just hovering. Looks like it was resolved when I replaced my pen (replaced yah while tablet first). Pen issues are hard to troubleshoot.

 

[Dellaclearing]

Well, I found the Surface App on the Windows Store and played around withe sensitivity, it didn't make any difference.

I went into Device Manager, found the Surface Pen under Human Interface Devices, tried disabling/enabling but it never made a difference as the pen would still work.

Then I tried uninstalling the driver but again it makes no difference as the pen is still functioning in the same way, surely after disabling and then even uninstalling the driver the pen shouldn't work at all anymore right? Or am I doing something wrong?!

 

[vxm]

I am afraid your Pen might be broken, or batteries might be faulty. Pen has 3 batteries- one AAAA and two small ones similiar to those you find in watches. Pen should work without AAAA battery, but if, and that's big if, for some reason other ones are broken, they might affect how it works. But that's big if on my side, I am speculating. To be honest, I think pen is broken altogether and you should ask for replacement after all this troubleshooting you did, clearly it's not fault of drivers or settings or interference from other device.

 

[hughlle]

I am afraid your Pen might be broken, or batteries might be faulty. Pen has 3 batteries- one AAAA and two small ones similiar to those you find in watches. Pen should work without AAAA battery, but if, and that's big if, for some reason other ones are broken, they might affect how it works. But that's big if on my side, I am speculating. To be honest, I think pen is broken altogether and you should ask for replacement after all this troubleshooting you did, clearly it's not fault of drivers or settings or interference from other device.

Pen requires the AAAA battery to function. The two cell batteries are for nothing else than the bluetooth button on the top.

There is not that much tech going on in the pen, perhaps it is actually something like a surface hardware/software problem. One of the reasons i say this is that there a number of instances, e.g fresh paint (for me at least) where the pen works perfectly everywhere, but try and paint a line in freshpaint and you pretty much have to put the pen through the screen for anything solid to be drawn.

 

[rkz]

It would have saved me time if I borrowed someone else's pen to test or if I visited a Microsoft store. If there is one close to you just walk in and test a pen. Maybe even at best buy? Then you can call support and get a replacement. Or you can buy one in the spot etc etc