Surface pro 4 type cover not working

Anonymous
2020-03-17T03:36:08+00:00

My type cover was working fine yesterday but today when I turned it on all of a sudden nothing was responding. The keyboard lights up but when I type or move my mouse nothing happens.

After trying tons of different methods such as reseting, two button reset, cleaning the keyboard and surface with rubbing alcohol, and making sure everything is updated, I think i found the issue.

When I check the devices and printers I notice my keyboard shows up as “Unknown USB device (device descriptor request failed)” and Im not sure why? Im not very tech savvy so this is all very confusing to me.

I’ve tried updating the driver, uninstalling the device and restarting, and I’m not sure what to do? In device manager under Universal Serial Bus controllers theres a yellow triangle next to the unknown USB. I know this my type cover because when I unconnect it the unknown USB Disappears.

I’m not sure what I did to make this happen? Like I said today this morning when I connected the type cover it just wasn’t responding but was perfectly fine yesterday and has not issues at all until now.

Surface | Surface Pro | Power and battery

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-03-17T04:36:29+00:00

    I ran the Diagnostic and that didn’t work, my Windows is fully up to date.

    I went to the firmware download page and it didn’t have my OS build number. Mine is 18363 but the download page only had 18362. I still tried that one and downloaded it and ran and then restarted and my keyboard is still Recognized as an unknown USB.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-03-17T03:52:42+00:00

    Hi Cliickcrack,

    Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Community.

    Can you please try to right-click on the Unknown USB device that has an error and try to Update it using the option to Search automatically for updated driver software?

    If still issues persist, please try these steps below:

    1: Run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit and check Windows Update

    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 Pro 4 then click Download on the next page.

                                   Choose the .msi file that matches your current OS Build and click Next.

                                   After downloading, run and install the .msi then Restart.

    If this answer your question, we highly encourage you to inform our Community by clicking on Yes or marking my post as an answer. This will help other members who may have the same issue as you. Otherwise, don't hesitate to update us so we can further assist you.

    Kind Regards,

    Marrion Y.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-03-31T18:15:04+00:00

    Hello I was experiencing a similar issue with my surface pro 7 type cover not working. It connects randomly when it wants to and will disconnect randomly as well, I have tried to trouble shoot with restarting, updating all software, force shut down, uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, doing a complete USB recovery which did help for a couple days then it stopped working again. I traded in the typecover for anew one which also worked for a week or so and stopped again, again did another USB recovery and it worked for a couple days then stopped again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-03-22T10:21:02+00:00

    I encountered a similar problem but i dont have an unknown USB device nor any other thing. I am not sure if the type cover could be seen when it was working. 

    The type cover just doesnt work today suddenly. Its LED light is not on. 

    I have tried to install the firmware and updated Windows, and other ways shared by other folks online. It still doesnt work. 

    I would not go for the recovery option because it may not work.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-03-21T21:44:35+00:00

    Hi Cliickcrack,

    Thank you for the response and I apologize for the delay. For this I suggest that you proceed in re-installing Windows on the device using a USB Recovery Image.

    This option will reimage the entire device and reload Windows including the drivers and firmware. It is the most complete form of Reset and it will wipe out everything on the device so you might need to back up your files first. You will need also a 16GB/32GB of flash drive that must be formatted into FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image. If you like to try, you can follow the steps provided below.

    How to 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

    Kind Regards,

    Marrion Y.

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