Surface Pro 5th gen won't switch on with short press and devices not working

[timsampson]

I have a Surface Pro 5th generation. It will not turn on with a short press of the power button.

If I force the tablet to start with volume+ and power it boots to Windows but the Type Cover isn't recognised and I have no access to USB or network devices but the touch screen works. It's as if it's in some sort of safe mode where all non-essential devices are disabled.

If I force a shutdown (by holding power for about 10 seconds) it will start up with a short press of the power button one time but still with the above issues.

I have tried various linux boot disks via USB but all fail to start properly. The keyboard works to select the boot options but stops working once the distribution starts to load. I suspect the USB access is being disabled when the distribution starts to boot.

 

[sharpuser]

@timsampson

Sure sounds like a dirty connection to the keyboard. Check for debris on both sides and blow out (if you use your mouth, do it through a lint-free cloth). This happened to my SP3 and had me stumped for 2 months. Turned out to be a tiny fiber of something which was attracted to the magnets around the connectors. Worth a try.

 

[timsampson]

Thanks sharpuser but there's nothing wrong with any ports or connections as they work fine in the BIOS screen. As soon as an operating system starts, the ports are disabled.

 

[sharpuser]

Okay.
Does the same thing happen when you go through an entire use cycle without the keyboard: Power up, browse, etc., shut down. In other words, with the clipboard connected to power, and no keyboard, Connect the power directly to the clipboard (screen) without the keyboard through this process. The idea here is to get the power configuration to completely re-apportion its settings.

And what about a (gasp!) Reset this PC (save my files option)?

 

[timsampson]

Sorry, I didn't notice that I'd received another reply here. The reset with files in place didn't make any difference, I think the problem is a bit more low level than that. The other stuff had all been tried.