Microsoft Surface Problems: Pen Issues Reported, Randomly Stops Working Despite Reboot

Microsoft has been hearing complaints by potential Surface with Windows 8 Pro customers about the lack of tablets in stock, but for those that do have it, another complaint has risen.

The pen that accompanies the Surface Pro tablet appears to have glitches. Reports by tablet owners note they have to reboot the tablet in order to have the pen function again, however, the pen would randomly stop functioning.

Microsoft did issue a statement to ZDNet, although it didn't provide a solution, it did provide info on the sensitivity of the pen, particularly during Photoshop sessions.

"Surface Pro uses Windows Inbox Drivers and APIs (application programming interfaces) for the Surface pen, which support advanced features such as pressure sensitivity and eraser functionality. There are a number of apps in the Store that leverage these new Windows APIs and can take advantage of all that the Surface pen has to offer. The Surface pen does work with Photoshop, which runs on Surface Pro, though advanced features such as pressure sensitivity and eraser functionality may not be available at this time. Microsoft is working with the necessary partners to make advanced features of the Surface pen available across a number of applications in the near future."

The pen issues continue with Microsoft fans writing on the Microsoft Community forums.

Culex4096 wrote, "I received my Surface Pro yesterday and the pen worked fine at first and now after being asleep for a few hours, it is no longer being detected by the screen. I've rebooted and even perform a system restore and still nothing. Has any one had similar problems, and if so have you cured them? Even if you haven't had the problem does anyone have any recommendations in terms of how to cure the problem. Thanks guys."

thegiffman shared a similar experience, "I had what may be the same problem - in fact I've run into it twice. The first time I did a system restore, and that didn't help. I even used the recovery function to wipe the drive back to the factory image. That didn't help either. I thought I needed to return the unit. Then, after a drive the next day, the thing mysteriously started working. I did notice that it was booting from the BIOS, not just waking up from sleep. I had rebooted many times, but never actually turned it off. Today I lost the pen functionality again. This time I tried shutting down, waiting a few seconds, and powering the machine back up. Pen functionality came right back."

Microsoft is still investigating the issue.

The news comes as Microsoft re-stocked on the 128GB Surface Pro after selling out on its debut day. However, potential buyers will have to wait about two weeks before Microsoft ships the 128GB tablet.

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