Microsoft Surface devices are thin, light and well made, but that slim design has a cost when something goes wrong. Screens are bonded to the body, batteries sit under the display on most Surface Pro models, and a few faults turn up again and again. This guide covers the problems we see most often on the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, what you can safely check yourself, and how to decide whether a repair is worth it.

Screen lifting away from the body

If the screen on a Surface Pro is starting to peel away at one edge, or the glass bulges slightly when you press near the middle, the cause is almost always a swollen battery. Lithium batteries can swell as they age or after a fault, and on a Surface Pro there is nowhere for that swelling to go except outwards, against the display.

This is the one Surface fault where you should act straight away:

stop using and charging the device;
don’t press the screen back into place or try to prise it further open;
keep it somewhere cool and away from anything flammable until it can be looked at.

Because the screen has to come off to reach the battery on most Surface Pro models, battery replacement is a careful job: the display is glued in and can crack if it is lifted the wrong way. A swollen battery usually means a new battery, and sometimes a new screen if the old one has already been stressed. See our Surface Pro repair page for the models we work on.

Not charging, or charging only at certain angles

Surface devices charge through the magnetic Surface Connect port, and newer models also through USB-C. Before assuming the worst, try these checks:

Look at the Surface Connect plug and port. The pins collect fluff and grime; a gentle clean with a dry, soft brush often brings a dead charger back to life.
Check the light on the charger tip. If it stays off with the plug out of the Surface, the power supply itself may be at fault.
If your model has USB-C, try charging with a known-good USB-C charger. If that works, the problem is the Surface Connect cable or port, not the battery.
Do a forced restart: hold the power button for about 20 seconds until the logo appears, then let go.

If none of that helps, the fault is usually a worn port, a damaged cable inside the charger, or a battery that has reached the end of its life. Our battery and charging repairs cover all three.

Keyboard cover not detected

A Type Cover that suddenly stops working on a Surface Pro is more often a connection problem than a broken keyboard. Detach it, wipe the gold pins on both the cover and the tablet with a dry cloth, and reattach it firmly. If the keyboard works on another Surface, or another keyboard works on yours, you know which side the fault is on. Repeated disconnects on a cover that works elsewhere point to the connector on the tablet.

Flickering or dead screen

A screen that flickers, shows lines, or has stopped responding to touch is usually a display fault rather than a software one. One quick test: connect the Surface to an external monitor. If the picture there is fine, the internal screen or its cable is the problem. Older Surface Pro 4 units in particular are well known for screen flicker, and the fix there is a replacement screen. On a Surface Laptop the screen is a separate lid assembly; see our Surface Laptop repair page.

Slow, stuck on the logo, or out of storage

From the Surface Pro 8 onwards, and on most recent Surface Laptops, the SSD sits behind a small access cover and can be replaced. That makes a failing drive, or a 128 GB model that has run out of space, a far simpler repair than on older models where the storage is harder to reach.

Two things to know before any storage work:

Back up first if the device still starts. A failing SSD can stop being readable at any point.
Find your BitLocker recovery key. Many Surfaces encrypt their drive automatically. If the drive fails, or you need files from it, the key is essential; it is usually stored in the Microsoft account used to set up the device. If you have already lost access to an encrypted drive, see BitLocker drive recovery.

Is a Surface repair worth it?

As a rough guide, a repair usually makes sense when:

the device is a Surface Pro 7 or later, or a Surface Laptop 3 or later, and is otherwise in good shape;
the fault is a single part: a battery, a charger, an SSD or a keyboard cover;
it still gets Windows updates, so it stays secure after the repair.

It is worth a harder look when the device is several generations old, needs both a screen and a battery, or no longer receives Windows updates. In that case, putting the money towards a newer machine, and moving your files across, can be the better choice. We will tell you honestly which side of the line your device falls on.

Bring your Surface to our London SE1 workshop

We repair Surface Pro models from the Pro 4 to the Pro 11th Edition, and Surface Laptops from the Laptop 3 to the 7th Edition. We look at the fault first and agree the price with you before any work starts. Many repairs are finished the same day when parts are in stock, and all come with a 3-month warranty.

Walk in to The Willows, Unit 1, 80 Willow Walk, London SE1 5SY (Mon to Sat, 9am to 6pm), call 020 7394 2525 or book a repair online.