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Surface pro 4 pen - pen tip doesnt work

Sailordude9980

New Member
Hi everyone

I have a surface pro 4 i5. The pen works - the eraser button brings up apps, pairs via bluetooth. It just doesnt seem to work as a touch feature.

Ive tried the following:

Uninstall / reinstall firmware
Verified latest software update
Restart PC
Unpair / Pair via bluetooth
Installed new tip, AAAA battery
searched the forums


Kind of perplexed. I normally can troubleshoot my way to it least id the issue.

Anyone had a similar issue?
 

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
Try a cold boot.
This is different than a restart.

COLD REBOOT, HARD RESET - SURFACE BOOK or SURFACE PRO 4
1) Hold power button for 25 seconds. Don't release early, even if you see the screen go black or the keyboard dim. Machine will completely shut down. Release.
2) Press and hold power and VolumeUp buttons simultaneously until you see the "Surface" logo on the screen. Release both buttons. Machine will start into the UEFI menu.
3) Exit the UEFI menu either by touch or by touchpad. Machine will restart.

Read here:
Solved - Pen won't write, opens Notebook

Let us know of your progress.
 

hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
Just to add my own experience. Busy annotating a pdf, put pen down, picked it up, it no longer writes. Eraser works fine, as does bluetooth. while annotating i am also using my S3 on the side, and the pen does not write on that either, so i doubt that it is an issue of simply restarting the surface.

Just picked up the old sp3 pen, and it works on both sp4 and s3 without an issue.

edit. just put in a brand new battery, and all is working. So removed the brand new battery and put the old one back in, all is working. So my take away from this. Even if your battery has charge, try temporarily inserting a new one.
 
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hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
Something Microsoft should probably address. From my experience, if I had gotten onto live chat with a MS rep, there would be a free replacement pen in the post with no requirement to send the other one back. In fact the last time i got a free pen the old one suddenly started working just fine. Needless replacements can't be the most cost effective practice.
 

dcoplien

Member
I had exactly the same problem the 2nd day. Took my SP4 to BestBuy and all their demo pens worked. They exchanged mine for a new one.
 

Gareee

New Member
I had something similar recently... Look where you are and see what electrical devices are around you. I had a plasma lamp that could completely kill touchscreen response gradually after a hour. I found statue with 20 leds that did the same thing. Try to turn them off and see if it cures the issue. it did for me!
 

dcoplien

Member
I had something similar recently... Look where you are and see what electrical devices are around you. I had a plasma lamp that could completely kill touchscreen response gradually after a hour. I found statue with 20 leds that did the same thing. Try to turn them off and see if it cures the issue. it did for me!
I am in exactly the same environment and have had no problems with the new pen so I am sure the problem was with the pen. I was the third person to return one to the same store.
 
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