Surface Pro 7 touchscreen unresponsive - windows 11

Hi All,

I posted some feedback to Microsoft on this but wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing the same issue of the touch screen (and the pen) on the Surface Pro 7 becoming unresponsive without any clear indication as to the cause. Keyboard and touchpad are working fine.

I was hoping this would be resolved with the various fixes that are getting released but now I see W11 will be available "outside" of the insider program, perhaps this isn't a problem for others?

I am on the Beta channel running W11 version 21H2 (OS Build 22000.168)

Thanks in advance for your assistance,
Alex

Hi alexnesbitt, Welcome to eleven forums :)

Anyway, I'm on the Dev version (22454.1000) of Windows 11 Pro on a Lenovo laptop with touchscreen and pen no issues here. Both touchscreen and pen work without hesitation or issue. I just tested this prior to posting so at this moment no issues.



No idea here as to why your Surface Pro 7 is having issues.

I was also on 22000.xxx and touch screen + pen worked great for me on my laptop (see my computers) connected to an external Lenovo USB-C Display (also listed in My Computers).

Right now I am on build 22454.1000 (dev channel) and the same display is working flawlessly.

Have you checked in Device Manager that all the drivers are installed and running correctly?

Try cleaning the display and the nib of the pen with a lens cleaning wipe. Debris built up on the display can interfere with the digitizer's interpretation of where your finger(s)/pen is. It's also worth considering if thermal throttling is taking place. I work on highway construction and in my first couple days owning the SP7 I've noticed that the cursor becomes quite unresponsive at times when the unit is warm. Holding it up to the AC in my truck tends to make it somewhat more responsive. Behold the critical flaw of passive cooling.

I'll have to evaluate further if thermals are really the cause (at least in my own case).

Edit: I was USB-C PD charging my SP7 via a relatively low power charger with my phone when I was experiencing the slowness. Unplugging it made an instant improvement... Interference?

I am having similar symptoms. When I reboot, the system works fine; however, after the system suspends (e.g. after keyboard cover closed), the touchscreen and surface pen stops working.

Interestingly, the pen's top button still works (not on the screen but clicking). This tells me the pen is working, but the touchscreen is the problem

I tried reinstalling the device following this page without success: What to try if your Surface touchscreen doesn't work

Here are the specs of my system:

Windows 11 Home
10.0.22000 build 22000

Device name: Surface
Serial number: 059706194653
Surface model: Surface Pro 7 Model 1866 i5
Version Information
SAM: 14.418.139.0
UEFI: 9.107.140.0
Touch driver: 3.321.139.0
Wi-Fi driver: 22.40.0.7

Sounds like we're having a similar problem Soh. I've got a Surface Pro 7 with i7, and started on the insider builds as soon as they became available. After the 2nd or 3rd one I started having the problem where the touchscreen would stop working after the device resumed from sleep. Rebooting would fix it, but then it would become problematic again as soon as it slept.

Strangely, the Windows Hello Face also stops working at the same time. Do you have that issue too?

I tried doing a Reset (which reset it to 11 rather than Windows 10 as I was expecting), but that didn't help. So then I went more drastic and did a clean install of 10 using a USB made with the Media Creation Tool. Touchscreen then worked fine (in win 10) but the Face Hello would not work at all, got a message saying it was unavailable in Settings. I tried all the different ways to try and fix this I could find, none worked. I did a chat with Microsoft support and they had me do a Recovery install using a USB (more thorough than Clean Install, which seems weird). That finally did the trick, and Face Hello and touchscreen both working great in Windows 10 again.

So...then re-enrolled in Insider (beta)... and right back where I started: As soon as device sleeps the Face login and touchscreen stop working. Very frustrating. I can manage without the face login but the primary reason for me to pick up the SP7 is to use the touchscreen, so super annoying to have to reboot every time.

One other thing: I noticed in Windows 10 that the SP7 would go into hibernation really quickly, after just a couple of hours. On Windows 10 it would sleep overnight with almost no battery drain and be ready immediately in the morning (this behavior came back after I re-installed 10). It seems like there's a cluster of sort-of-related things going on here that may have a common cause but I can't put my finger on what it would be.

If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this would definitely appreciate it! I've posted about this multiple times in the Feedback Hub, have not heard anything back.

OK @soh I was futzing around more today and accidentally discovered a solution to my problem at least, see if it works for you.
1. Wake the device up using the power button. For me, the Hello camera won't activate. If I were to proceed from this point then neither the face recognition nor the touchscreen will work (if I get past the login using PIN instead)
2. Momentarily close the cover and then immediately open it up again
3. The face recognition sensors should kick on and log in
4. Once logged in, the touchscreen will now work

Sometimes it takes me a couple of goes. Give it a try!

Yes, it is very possible it is simply just a power state issue, which is very normal with beta builds and certain device drivers.

Talisman39 said:

OK @soh I was futzing around more today and accidentally discovered a solution to my problem at least, see if it works for you.
1. Wake the device up using the power button. For me, the Hello camera won't activate. If I were to proceed from this point then neither the face recognition nor the touchscreen will work (if I get past the login using PIN instead)
2. Momentarily close the cover and then immediately open it up again
3. The face recognition sensors should kick on and log in
4. Once logged in, the touchscreen will now work

Sometimes it takes me a couple of goes. Give it a try!

Click to expand...

I made an account just to say I have been having the same problems since the beta. I reinstalled via USB as a clean install (with the final build that was just released). Still have the problem.

And this trick worked. Still sucks to have to do this every time... but hopefully a real fix is out there? Trying to send feedback to MS seems.. futile.

Exactly the same problem here on my Surface Pro 7 with the Windows 11 RTM build that was released yesterday (21H2 22000.194). I will try the trick with closing and reopening the type cover. Hope Microsoft will release a fix for this asap....

I remember having similar sleep issues with Windows 10 on all my devices years ago. Not entirely sure if the issue is in UEFI firmware, Windows, drivers or the actual hardware.

After sleep for some reason, USB devices did not want to wake up properly, rendering my mouse and KB useless. Haven't had this issue in a very long time though.

Same here, thought about reinstalling Windows 11, but might just have to wait for lazy Microsoft to fix it.
Can't believe we have these problems with both OS and Device being from the same company
Thanks for the tip with the cover that worked.

To their defense, they haven't recommended Windows 11 on SP7 yet, as they haven't made the Update available via the official Windows Update thing.

At least I'm not alone :)
Thanks for the trick.

Talisman39 said:

OK @soh I was futzing around more today and accidentally discovered a solution to my problem at least, see if it works for you.
1. Wake the device up using the power button. For me, the Hello camera won't activate. If I were to proceed from this point then neither the face recognition nor the touchscreen will work (if I get past the login using PIN instead)
2. Momentarily close the cover and then immediately open it up again
3. The face recognition sensors should kick on and log in
4. Once logged in, the touchscreen will now work

Sometimes it takes me a couple of goes. Give it a try!

Click to expand...

This trick worked for me on my Surface Pro 7 i7 too. Thanks!

My Computers System Two is also a Surface Pro 7.

When I purchased both of my current computers this year, I opted out of the Insider Program because of beta build problems. I need for my two computers to work reliably and that just wasn't the case with the Insider Program.

Bottom line is that I've not had any problems whatsoever with either of my systems on release Windows 10 or release Windows 11.

TraderGary

I've the same problem with Win 11 on Surface Pro 7. The only way to regain the touch screen is reboot.

I'm not sure about Windows 11, but I have seen in Windows 10 that if you update the drivers through Windows Update or other tool on a tablet you lose the touch functionality and might also lose audio, sensor or other feature. The remedy is to install the chipset (platform) drivers directly from the manufacturer. If I recall correctly, Microsoft just provides a single installation for all drivers, download and install that. Then use the Windows Update Show/Hide Tool to hide (block) any driver updates. No matter what Microsoft's site says, it works in all Windows 10 builds and Windows 11. I tested it myself.

Installed Final release Win11 yesterday and this problem occurs. Even had an update today, but still touch screen unresponsive.

MarkC said:

Installed Final release Win11 yesterday and this problem occurs. Even had an update today, but still touch screen unresponsive.

Click to expand...

Mark, welcome to ElevenForum, and please tap on "My Computer" on the lower left and fill out your computer data so we know what you have.

Touchscreen can be disabled/enabled in Device Manager.
You might check status in Device Manager.
It's found in Device Manager under "Human Interface Devices".