Erratic cursor with touchpad on Type cover

[joudbren]

Finally have my Surface Pro 128 and love it so far. One issue though... when I have the Type keyboard attached and the Surface Pro is plugged into its charger, the cursor moves all over the place on its own as soon as you put a finger on the touchpad. You don't have to even move your finger... the cursor just shoots all over the place.

I spent an hour and a half on the phone with Microsoft and first they heard of this. What is weird is that as soon as you unplug the charger from the tablet and its just on battery, then everything behaves as it should. Cursor stops jumping around and only moves when you move your finger on the touchpad.

Microsoft couldn't figure it out and even had me re-load the system. No go. Exchanged the unit today at the MS Store and the new one is doing exactly the same thing even with another new Type keyboard. I'm totally baffled. The girl I dealt with at the store did mention that someone else returned their Pro last night for exchange for the exact same reason. Is this some new problem that is starting to show up?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and also curious to hear from any others that have seen this.

 

[bosamar]

Have you tried the Trackpad Settings app?

 

[ArnoldC]

I can only relate to experience with an Android device where in, if the charger is plugged and I type on the on-screen keyboard, random letters appear.

1. No Type Cover, and Surface Pro is plugged in. Ok?
2. With Type Cover, and Surface Pro not plugged in. Ok?

 

[joudbren]

Have you tried the Trackpad Settings app?

Yep, no difference unfortunately.

 

[joudbren]

I can only relate to experience with an Android device where in, if the charger is plugged and I type on the on-screen keyboard, random letters appear.

1. No Type Cover, and Surface Pro is plugged in. Ok?
2. With Type Cover, and Surface Pro not plugged in. Ok?

1. Yes, no issues. Everything works perfectly fine. The keys on the Type Cover also work fine, just a trackpad issue as far as I can tell.
2. Yes, no issues at all when the tablet is on battery and not plugged in with the charger.

As mentioned, this has now happened with two different units with two different Type Covers. Plugged in... cursor problem. On battery, no problem. Microsoft store also mentioned that someone else returned a unit for the exact same problem. Thanks!

 

[Mr.NK]

I've been experiencing the same problems on several but rare occasions. Especially while typing in Word, the cursor do sometime a weird dance, so if I'm not watching carefully while typing, my notes will end up on a complete different corner.

 

[joudbren]

Ok, I think I "might" have found the culprit. Seems to be possibly a grounding issue. I noticed the behaviour was changing when I had the kickstand open. It's worse when open. What is weird is that when I touch my finger to the back of the casing "under" the kickstand when it's open, the cursor becomes normal.

I saw a thread somewhere that mentioned potential grounding issues with the metal casing and charger and that if you touched your finger to the back of the casing under the kickstand that you could feel a very slight voltage. Pretty sure both of my units have this problem and it's affecting the cursor somehow.

Back to the MS store today I'm guessing. Microsoft is exchanging units that have this "ground" issue according to the thread so we'll see what happens. Thanks!

 

[joudbren]

Well, as a follow up to this it appears the issue has something to do with my home. I did exchange the SP and behaviour is the same with the new unit. Different keyboard didn't help either. I took everything back to the MS Store to test and it all worked perfectly. In my office, perfect. Now I have to go hunting at home to see what could possibly be causing this cursor issue. It also behaves differently in different rooms. In my computer room it doesn't have to be plugged in to AC and the cursor still acts up. Out in the dining room it works fine but only if not plugged in to AC.

Totally strange and I can't figure out if it's an electrical issue or some sort of wireless interference. The Wedge mouse is working perfectly along with the keys on the Type cover so not a big deal but I'm still curious if anyone has seen anything similar. As previously mentioned, someone else before me had returned a unit for the same problem so the Surface Pro is definitely susceptible to some kind of interference if I can only figure out what is causing it. Cheers!

 

[J515OP]

Quick get your foil hat on your head! They're listening to your thoughts. Sorry that's all I've got.

Maybe get a electrical testing tool from the hardware store (Outlet Tester 120V Ac) or RF detector?

 

[joudbren]

Quick get your foil hat on your head! They're listening to your thoughts. Sorry that's all I've got.

Maybe get a electrical testing tool from the hardware store (Outlet Tester 120V Ac) or RF detector?

LOL! Going to power down the house this weekend and see if I can at least narrow it down to an inside or outside interference issue. Should be interesting. Cheers!

 

[JonMeza]

Finally have my Surface Pro 128 and love it so far. One issue though... when I have the Type keyboard attached and the Surface Pro is plugged into its charger, the cursor moves all over the place on its own as soon as you put a finger on the touchpad. You don't have to even move your finger... the cursor just shoots all over the place.

I spent an hour and a half on the phone with Microsoft and first they heard of this. What is weird is that as soon as you unplug the charger from the tablet and its just on battery, then everything behaves as it should. Cursor stops jumping around and only moves when you move your finger on the touchpad.

Microsoft couldn't figure it out and even had me re-load the system. No go. Exchanged the unit today at the MS Store and the new one is doing exactly the same thing even with another new Type keyboard. I'm totally baffled. The girl I dealt with at the store did mention that someone else returned their Pro last night for exchange for the exact same reason. Is this some new problem that is starting to show up?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and also curious to hear from any others that have seen this.

I just received my Surface Pro a few days ago, and today was the first time I experienced the erratic mouse cursor issue when using the trackpad. The machine was plugged to the charger. My first action was to reboot the machine, but the problem persisted. After reading a suggestion here in the threads, I unplugged the charger, and the cursor worked just fine. I plugged it back in again, and all was well. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and I experienced the cursor issues once more. Unplugged, mouse pad is fine. Definitely some interference happening with the charger.

 

[natdoc]

Bought a Surface Pro last Sunday and am having the exact same problem. It works fine everywhere except in my home office at my desk. I can get the problem to improve by changing the tilt of the screen off the back kickstand. I can also get the problem to improve (though still a little jitter) when I grab the case of my home desktop PC that is under the desk I'm working at. When I power down the desktop and unplug it, the problem does away. Seems it is a grounding issue or RF interference of some kind. Can't repeat the problem anywhere else, even at work sitting at desk with PC nearby as well.

Today I exchanged both the surface and the keyboard and still has same problem. Concerned if I make adjustments at home to overcome this, it will reappear some time elsewhere. Also was on chat with MS tech yesterday and they had no idea what it might be. Did all the updates, and touchpad app etc. Oh, and the issue doesn't seem to be affected by the power supply attached or not.