Surface Pro 4 Active Pen Malfunctions? Here’s How You Can Resolve Them Easily

Many Surface Pro 4 users who uses a Surface Pen have reported that their Surface Pen cannot work on their tablet — Their Surface Pro 4 does not respond to their Pen or responds but in an abnormal way.

If you are one of them, not to worry. Here are four fixes you can try to fix this problem:

Method 1: Troubleshoot the battery
Method 2: Update your Surface Pen driver
Method 3: Re-pair your devices
Method 4: Perform a two-button shutdown

Method 1: Troubleshoot the battery

You cannot use your Surface Pen if its battery is misplaced or runs out. You can try reinserting orreplacing the battery of your Surface Pen to see if this brings it back. To do so:

1) Remove thecap of your Surface Pen and then take out thebattery .

2) Insert the batteryback and put the cap back on.

3) Try your Surface Pen on your Surface Pro 4 and see if the problem resolves.

4) If it doesn’t, replace the battery with anew AAAA battery .

5) Try the Pen again and see if it works.

Method 2: Update your Surface Pen driver

You may not be able to use your Surface Pen if you are using a wrong driver or it is out of date. You can update your Surface Pen driver manually or, if you’re not confident playing around with drivers, you can do it automatically withDriver Easy .

Diver Easy can automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to risk downloading and installing the wrong driver, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing.

You can update your drivers automatically with either the FREE or thePro version of Driver Easy. But with the Pro version it takes just2 clicks (and you getfull support and a30-day money back guarantee):

1) Download and installDriver Easy .

2) Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button.Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.

3) Click the Update button next to a flagged Surface Pen driver to automatically download and install the correct version of this driver (you can do this with the FREE version). Or click the Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system (this requires the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click the Update All).

4) Restart your computer and check to see if the problem is resolved.

Method 3: Re-pair your devices

Your Surface Pen connects to your Surface Pro 4 viaBluetooth and it will stop working if the Bluetooth connection is defective. Re-pairing your Pen and your tablet can help you rebuild the connection:

1) OpenSettings .

2) SelectDevices .

3) Make sure the Bluetooth ison . Then selectSurface Pen in the device list and selectRemove device .

4) Press down and hold the top of your Surface Pen for around7 seconds. The light next to the Pen clip would flash if you are using an old model of Surface Pen. Or the light on the flat side would glow white if you are using a new model. Both mean your Surface Pro 4 has discovered your Surface Pen.

5) In theBluetooth settings on your tablet, selectSurface Pen , and then selectPair .

6) Now you have re-paired your Pen and your tablet. Try and see if the Pen is usable.

Method 4: Perform a two-button shutdown

It is possible that there are corruption issues on your Surface Pro 4 that disable your Surface Pen. A complete reboot of your Tablet can be effective for clearing those corruption issues. Atwo-button shutdown can shut your Surface Pro 4 down completely. You can try fixing your Surface Pen by performing a two-button shutdown and then restarting your device.

1) Press and hold thepower button of your Surface Pro 4 for about30 seconds and thenrelease it.

2) Press and hold thepower button and thevolume up (+) button together for about15 seconds. (Please doNOT let go when you see a logo pop up on the screen.)

3) Wait for over10 seconds.

4) Start your device and check if your Surface Pen works.

If the methods above cannot help you, you may need to consider your problem as a hardware issue. In this case, you may need to contact Microsoft support. They can offer you any further assistance you need.

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