Keyboard not detected

Question

Hello, this post is in regard to my keyboard (the one the screen magnetically connects to) is not working.

When the screen attaches, the detach button has a red LED that stays on. Pressing this button does nothing. I have been using the manual detatch feature.

For a while, a popup would come up saying 'usb device not recognized' or something like that but would quickly go away after about 2 seconds and reappear about 15 seconds later. Now when it is attached it doesnt seem to realize it is, as the little icon on the bottom right is blank.

I have tried going into the UEFI by holding down the volume up key on startup and have even disabled the keyboard in these options, restarted, re-enabled the keyboard, then restarted again. This seemed to have no effect.

In my device manager under keyboards there is only 'HID Keyboard Device'. I read some forum posts saying there should be a 'Surface Center' or something like that but it does not appear. I've tried to update the HID device but it says it's up to date.

I updated Windows and checked for previous updates that could have caused it. The only updates that have happened in 2020 were the ones I did myself after this problem started.

I have also wiped off the contacts with rubbing alcohol.

Answer 1

Hi MRLyons,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We're sorry to know what happened to the keyboard of your Surface device.

To determine whether the point of failure comes from the Surface device or from the keyboard itself, I would like you to checkif the keyboard is still charging. It is still showing 2 batteries being charged whenever the power supply is connected to the charging port? If it only shows one battery and the second battery is not even detected, this could be a hardware issue to the keyboard itself and we highly recommend to contact support for replacement options. But before doing that, we would like you to follow the troubleshooting steps below if you haven't performed it yet. 

Method 1: Run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit and check Windows Update

Method 2: Update drivers and firmware                              

• Check what is the current OS Build of your Windows version by going to Settings > System > About.
• Go to Download driver and firmware for Surface, choose Surface Book then click Download on the next page.
• Choose the .msi file that matches your current OS Build or the closest OS build available and click Next.
• After downloading, run and install the .msi then Restart the Surface.

Method 3: Uninstall/Re-install Drivers 

• Open Device Manager Expand Batteries
• Right-click on battery drivers available and select Uninstall.
• If there is more than one driver, uninstall those as well. If in case you'll see a pop up, leave the box uncheck and proceed with the uninstallation of the drivers.  Then Restart the surface to reinstall the battery drivers.

If this won't fix  the issue then you need to reset your Surface device back to it's default settings and after resetting, if the keyboard still won't be detected, then this confirms that you're Surface device is having a hardware issue and this is when you have to contact support for replacement options.

To do a clean installation of your device operating system and to reset it back to its default OS, you can follow the instructions below.

Download, Create and Use A USB Recovery Drive

To download the Recovery Image:

• You'll need a PC running Windows 7 or later or Surface Device.

1. Visit the page to Download the recovery image for your Surface
2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account
3. From the list of Surface devices available, select the device that you need a recovery image for.

Please note that while you will only be presented with devices that are currently registered on your account, you will also be presented with the option to get an image for a different type of device. If you try to use this option, you will be prompted to enter the serial number for that device 4. Download the recovery image using the button on the page 5. When the download bar pops up at the bottom of your screen, save the file in a location you will be able to find it.

 Format USB Drive:

• Note: Formatting a recovery drive will erase anything that is already stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using it to create a Surface

USB recovery drive.

1. Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC.
2. From the desktop, open File Explorer
3. Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format
4. Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start
5. Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive
6. Tap or click OK when the format is complete

Create a recovery drive:

1. On your Surface or PC, open recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it or right click then select Extract and then Extract all.
2. Select the USB drive you formatted earlier for the location and click Extract.

Use a USB recovery drive to reset your Surface:

1. Shutdown the Surface
2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port
3. Press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker
4. Press and release the power button
5. When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker
6. Surface will start the recovery software on the USB recovery drive
7. When prompted, choose your language options and keyboard layout
8. Select Troubleshoot
9. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC.
10. If prompted, select Repartition the drives
11. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive.

If this answer your questions, please let our Community know by marking this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to repond to this thread for further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z