why is my pen is creating broken, inconsistent lines?

Question

I recently upgraded to a surface pro 11. The pen I used for years on my old surface pro has suddenly stopped working as well. Unless I write with the perfect amount of pressure, the lines created by the pen are broken and have large gaps where the pen will draw nothing. This problem persists when I try to write with a normal amount of pressure. I bought a new pen only to find that the same exact problem is happening. I have deleted, reinstalled, and updated the software drivers, tried recallibrating the pen multiple times, and restarted my surface multiple times and nothing has worked. This is incredibly frustrating.

Answer 1

Hello Leo,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

After reading all of your posts, I noticed that you own two Surface Pro, one is a Surface Pro 11 and the other model is unknown. At the same time, you also own two Surafce Pens (maybe Slim Pens?). But you did not tell us the model of the pen.

Did you test two pens on each of the two Surface devices? Do these pens have the same problem on both surfaces? I need to confirm whether the problem comes from the pen or the Surface.

It would be great if you are willing to share more details with us. I can direct you to connect with the Surface technical support team if necessary.

Best Regards,

Mitchell | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

I am currently using the surface pro 11, my old surface broke. My old pen and my old surface worked together just fine. I have tested my old stylus and the new stylus on this surface pro 11 and both pens have the same problem. I am using a Renaisser brand stylus that says it has compatibility with this surface.

Answer 3

Hi Leo,

Thank you for your additional information, if you are using two Renaisser brand pens, then perhaps I recommend you to contact Renaisser customer support about this issue. Because we don't know much about this brand of stylus, the screening process that applies to the Surface Pen or Slim Pen does not necessarily apply to this model of pen.

While Renaisser's customer support informs you that their pen is Surface compatible, after all, this is a third-party device and we cannot guarantee you its compatibility. In fact, a very easy way to test this problem is to try testing it on another Surface.

But the trouble is that your old Surface is broken. If you are near a Microsoft store or sales outlet, perhaps you can bring your pen to the store, explain the purpose of your visit, and test whether the pen will work well on other devices.

In addition, I have a very important information to inform you that Surface Pro 11 has an obvious difference from most other models of Surface Pro, that is, the device is ARM architecture. I don't know if you need a dedicated driver for the pen you're using, but if you've ever used a Surface Pro with an x64 or x86 system, you usually won't encounter a failure to install a driver. However, the lack of adaptive drivers for external devices is a problem that will occur on the Surface Pro 11.

So if you can still get in touch with Renaisser's customer support, it's worth checking with them to see if their pen will work on an ARM device.

Best Regards,

Mitchell | Microsoft Community Support Specialist