Surface Pro 3 firmware problems - possible firmware reset?

Question

Hello,

I am writing about an issue on Surface Pro 3 that I've been having for quite long time but couldn't find the opportunity to investigate until now. I own the Surface since the end of 2015, and the issue that I will describe below started after a firmware update, if I recall correctly, in autumn 2018.

The Surface model is a Pro 3 256GB and the OS is Windows 10 version 10.0.18363.592

Touch Controller Firmware version is 426.27.66.0

The symptoms of the issue are:

• touch screen not functional
• touch pad functional but the cursor remains fixed in a specific position (bottom vertically, 2/3 on the right horizontally). This happens also in UEFI screen, pre-OS, this should exclude a driver/software issue
• when using a bluetooth or USB mouse, the cursor blinks, a "ghost" cursor is still there (also blinking) in the postion described above, and this seems to interfere with the real cursor, as if the touch screen was constantly touched
• when the situation described above occurs, there is immediate overheating even with no programs started
• keyboard key "0" doesn't work

So far, the only way found to mitigate all this is to force shutdown (10 seconds power button down) and turn on again. After doing this generally 3 times, the "Touch Controller Firmware" device is disabled by the OS, the touchpad works, the mouse cursor doesn't blink, and the overheating is less pronounced.

The "0" key is still not working and must be entered via On-Screen Keyboard or copy-pasting a 0 character from another source

Through the time, I tried updating the firmware but there was no substantial change.

While searching about this issue, I found the following article that seems very similar

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pro-touch-controller-firmware/815fd304-8e8f-448c-ac7d-d9d3ec12939b

The topic is finally considered as a hardware problem, but I wish to further investigate and try to solve it.

My question is: how can I perform a Firmware factory reset?

I'd like to start from scratch - REAL scratch, because just OS factory reset won't change anything - and then see what happens

If anyone found a different way to deal with this problem, I'm happy to hear any possible solution, including a way to have the Touch Screen always disabled, so I don't have to force shutdown so many times.

Thank you

Answer 1

how can I perform a Firmware factory reset?

The bad news is that you can't revert firmware or reset it. What you've
described definitely sounds like a hardware issue and unfortunately, you cannot
get an out of warranty exchange as SP3 was discontinued some time ago. It's too
bad that you didn't investigate this issue in 2018 when it first developed as at
that point out of warranty replacements were still available.

Answer 2

Hi Barb,

I have the same issue during the recent update window 10 version 2004. The touch screen not functioning properly. The cursor remain on the upper right corner of my screen. Even in the device manager firmware section, I see a yellow triangle on the Surface pro touch controller firmware. In the properties section of the firmware the device status window indicate" This device cannot work properly until you restart your computer (Code 14)". I even restarted my computer but the error remain there. I disable the touchscreen through device manager.

During 2019 update, all the surface pro 3 type cover malfunction. I raise this issue to microsoft but they says that its was a hardware issue. All these type cover hardware issue happen after the update. Why microsoft cannot own their fault. Now with the current update I was expecting that they will solve the typecover issue and but instead they create more problems. 

I am happy to hear any possible solution for these two problems.

Answer 3

If you have an issue going back to 2019, the best way to check if it is hardware

is to do a complete wipe and reimage from a downloadable recovery image (which

Microsoft should have asked you to do when they told you it was hardware). You

didn't specify exactly what the issue was/is with the typecover. 

I'm an unpaid volunteer and do not work for Microsoft. 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 -

Here are instructions to reimage your SP3:

Go to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surfacerecoveryimage   (with a different Windows computer if yours is not working properly)  and download a recovery image for your Surface. You will need a 16GB or 32GB USB

stick formatted FAT32 (use a Windows computer).  Best to purchase and use a new,

previously unused USB stick for this. Use FULL format and not quick format and

give the volume a name like surfboot. Unzip/extract the recovery zip to the root

of the formatted USB stick and then-

To reset your Surface from a USB recovery drive:

Step 1:    Make sure your Surface is turned off and plugged in (hold down the power

button for 30 seconds).

Step 2:     Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port on your Surface.

Step 3:    Press and hold the volume-down button while you press and release the

power button on your Surface.

Step 4:     When the Surface logo appears, release the volume button.

Step 5:    When prompted, select the language and keyboard layout you want.

Step 6:     Select Troubleshoot > Reset your PC.

If prompted for a recovery key, select Skip this drive at the bottom of the

screen.

Step 7:     Select the target operating system you wish to reset. This

refers to the current operating system installed on your Surface.

Step 8:    Select Yes, repartition the drives, and on the next page, select Next.

Step 9:     Choose Just remove my files.

Step 10:    Select Reset.

Surface restarts and the Surface logo displays while the reset process continues

(this can take a while).