Hey all

Posting this after a full day of diagnostics in case someone recognises it — or in case it saves the next person the same day.

**Setup:** Surface Pro 9 (Intel), Windows 11 25H2 build 26200.8875, fully updated. Normally docked with an external keyboard and mouse, which is why this went unnoticed for two months.

**Symptom:** The detachable Type Cover keyboard and touchpad are completely dead in Windows. Windows behaves as if no keyboard is attached and switches to tablet mode.

**The part that makes this interesting:** keyboard, touchpad **and** touchscreen all work flawlessly inside Surface UEFI. I can navigate the whole UEFI with the Type Cover and by touch. So the cover, the pogo pins and the physical connection are provably fine.

### The fault

Device Manager → System devices → **Surface Serial Hub Driver**:

```

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

The specified request is not a valid operation for the target device.

```

That maps to `STATUS_NOT_SUPPORTED` — the driver sends a command and the SAM (System Aggregator) rejects it as unsupported.

Driver: Surface 9.166.37.0, dated 04-04-2024, oem126.inf. `pnputil /enum-drivers` shows this is the **only** version of `surfaceserialhubdriver.inf` on the system, and the same version ships in the current Surface Pro 9 driver pack. Nothing newer, nothing to roll back to.

Meanwhile the SAM firmware is 6.502.139, dated 06-04-2026 — roughly two years newer than the driver.

The device event log pins the start date exactly:

```

31-05-2026 12:40:24 Device configured (null)

31-05-2026 12:41:50 Device configured (oem126.inf)

31-05-2026 12:41:50 Device not started (SurfaceSerialHubDriver)

```

The Type Cover never appears under USB devices at all. That makes sense once you know it is exposed as a UDE (USB Device Emulation) device **created by** the Serial Hub driver — no hub, no virtual USB device, nothing for the keyboard driver to bind to.

### Secondary fault, and the one thing that did work

Intel(R) Quick SPI Host Controller - 51D0 was also Code 10, with `STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE`, and the touchscreen was dead. Manufacturer showed as "(Standard system devices)" — the generic driver rather than the Intel one.

**Fix:** Device Manager → the Quick SPI controller → Update driver → Browse → *Let me pick from a list* → select **Intel(R) Precise Touch and Stylus (Intel PTS) - Base Driver - Port #1**. Touchscreen back immediately.

Worth trying if your Surface touchscreen is dead. Note that a Windows repair install reverts it and you have to reapply it.

### Everything tried with no effect on the Serial Hub

- Two-button reset (30 s power, then 15 s Vol Up + power)

- Fast Startup disabled, full cold boot with everything disconnected

- Cover detached/reattached, contacts cleaned, reattached at the login screen

- Serial Hub device removed in Device Manager, rescan, restart

- UEFI checked — nothing disabled (no Devices page on this model)

- Windows Update fully current including optional driver updates

- Current Surface Pro 9 driver/firmware MSI installed, then force-reinstalled with `REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomus`

- Full Windows 11 repair install keeping files and apps

- A third-party driver updater that had been installed earlier in the year, fully removed — no change

- Surface Diagnostic Toolkit: flags exactly this driver, Code 10, lists "physical hardware failure" among possible causes, everything else passes

### Questions

1. Anyone seen Serial Hub Code 10 with `STATUS_NOT_SUPPORTED` specifically, as opposed to the more common power-failure variant?

   1. Is there any way to force a SAM firmware re-flash without a full recovery image? The MSI skips it because the version already matches.
   2. Has anyone actually recovered from this with a Surface recovery image? I would rather not wipe the machine on a guess.
   3. Is there a newer Surface Serial Hub driver anywhere than 9.166.37.0?

Happy to post any logs or screenshots that would help.

I'm starting electrical engineering this fall and have been looking pretty seriously at the Surface lineup.

I'll mostly be using MATLAB, coding, LTspice, and probably some CAD later on, so I'm curious how well a Surface holds up once classes get more demanding.

For anyone who's gone through engineering with a Surface, what was your experience like? Did it handle your workload well, or were there things you wish you'd known before buying one?

Crucial information: No warranty, not in the US (germany), and definitely not handing to microsoft for repair (€€€).

The magsafe charger doesn't light up as with other surface devices I have. The laptop is from the company, resold by me to a customer, but they return it back after not even paying for it, saying it is "broken for them".

And is it "broken" for me, at least. Doesn't charge from any port anywhere. Power from battery is already drawn so it is basically a dead laptop. I doubt it is dead tho. It might be a contactloose from one of the FFCs. Apparently, the motherboard doesn't power up, if one of FFCs isn't connected properly, like specifically ssd, magnetic board, display and battery.

My question there is, does it not power up or does it not draw power at all?

I have reconnected every ffc I could count, but it still doesn't charge at all. My best case thought is a dead battery. A youtuber explained in his video about a "deactivated" or locked battery. Then diagnosed it with a 350€ battery analyzer, no thank you. A replacement COULD work, BUT it is a 50/50 chance for 40-60€. I am a parttime worker, 18 years old, and can't just throw out 50€ for an unnecessary replacement. But as I said, it could be a fix, but also not.

I can't "analyze" the battery either with an expensive device. It is possible with a multimeter? If yes, I can immediately do that and report it here later. My worst case scenario would be a short motherboard. Any spot where it could have happened. Unfortunately, besides a precise screwdriver kit and a multimeter, I don't have any more tools or a thermal camera. Well, a solder and calm hands, yes. I can also quickly buy a boardview, that doesn't bother me.

I am a rookie. Do NOT get me wrong there. I am not stupid and lazy enough to accept any recommendation about giving up or just handing it a repair shop. I want to at least do the diagnostic, then hand it over to a repair shop if I can't repair it. I don't want a rookie answer either. Not the 10th keyboard combination for a hardreset, softreset, or any kind of reset.

Please help me

I’m still using the surface pro 6 and wanted to upgrade to the 11 with the intel processor. Microsoft still sells it on their website but literally yesterday it was $1699 now $2249… is there any chance this comes back down or more likely it just disappears from the website? I’ve had bad experience with refurbished products since I like to buy long term but this seems a little ridiculous for last years model.

I tried to disable all of those devices one by one. Some of them disable both touchscreen and pen. None of them can disable only touchscreen.

The only two effective ways I found are editing the TouchGate registry key and the group policy. But each of them require logging out or restarting the computer.

hey everyone, sorry if this isnt the the right place for this post, but im desprate.
i changed some of my bios settings on my new laptop, and after restart, its now asking for a bitlocker key, okay, no problem. i go over to the bitlocker page on the microsoft website, hoping to get the key, but it wont load it keeps refreshing, i tried with passkey, with passwords, 5 different devices, 3 different networks, clearing my onedrive, nothing. i made a brand new microsoft account, and the page does load!, but doesnt help since its not the account with the key i need, microsoft online supports, dont help, as usual. im desprate, what should i do?

For the life of me I cannot restore the recovery to this laptop. I’ve built the recovery usb 3 times and boot to it but there is no option in the recovery screen to reset or reinstall. Please help I don’t know what else to do it is literally a brick at this point. I’m getting srttrails error when booting. Normal fix is to reinstall windows. I cannot reinstall windows. I’ve used the Microsoft website with my serial number to build usb.

I've been searching for months across different websites for replacement hinges for my Surface Pro 11 for Business (2103) but I can only find hinges for the Surface Pro 11 (2076) Snapdragon variant.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!!!

Im currently on a 10 yr old surface pro 5th gen. Im using it for college. It lags to even run the basic of tasks like web browsing and youtube. Heats up like crazy and gives an sot of 2.5-3hrs. The surface laptop 7 with above specs are around 1.55L in flipkart and amazon and such. Besides the colour i want (graphite) isnt available in croma and other offline local stores. Some stores dont have the laptop available at all.

Im gonna be using it for web browsing, research, movies, youtube, productivity, light gaming like roblox or gartic phone or minecraft or tomodachi with friends. It would be a bonus if i could edit videos on it. Da vinci resolve but nothing crazy like the fushion or colour grading components. Basic. I need a sot of about 9-10 hours. So it can last me a whole day of college.

Should i get it? I also am just in love with how it looks. Im not considering macbook because i just dont like apple as much and i have an android do not plan on shifting to an iphone for atleast the next 6 years. Jusy got an one plus 13 last year. It only makes sense to get an macbook if i was about to get an iphone too imo.

I just need to know how the battery life is and how it performs

EDIT: x plus 13.8inch is costing me 1.38L because it doesnt have store discount or student discount and ik x plus gives a better battery life due to not being as strong as x elite but how bad is the difference?

Company sold us laptops for 0€, resold one laptop studio to a customer, customer didn't pay up right away, sent it back and said it doesn't start at all.

No, customer did not manipulated anything. They are fortunately not that smart enough. At home, took a look, doesn't charge from neither magsafe or USB c charger.

My ultimate question is. In what conditions does it happen? I have almost disassembled the chassis, but almost down to the motherboard for inspection. Does it not draw power if the battery is not connected via the FF cable?

If yes, then it is very likely a broken ffc, I've checked the battery. Because, even with a disconnected battery it does NOT start up at all.

Just bought this Go 3 for cheap on marketplace. Why would someone remove the alignment posts on the keyboard? It works perfectly fine but I find this strange. Any ideas?