Surface Laptop 2 has black screen that flickers to gray when on switch is pressed but laptop doesn't turn on or off

Question

Surface Laptop 2 has black screen that flickers to gray when on switch is pressed but laptop doesn't turn on or off

The laptop has windows 11 and I was working on it and it was functioning properly except had rebooted on its own a couple of times in the last day or two. Anyhow, I left it on to run an errand and when I came it was dark. Long pressing the on switch didn't turn it on nor pressing on switch and volume up switch together, or windows+ shift+control+B or Ctrl+alt+del. The screen is not completely dark/dead. It flickers to a light gray (backlight?) when the switch is pressed on and held, same with on+ volume up switch. I am pretty much out of options and have data in there that is not saved elsewhere. I understand that the hard drive is soldered to the motherboard so even if I were to unglue the laptop, I will not be able to access the data. Any options?

I did not timely see the response to my question, but Microsoft Agent Lavania suggested that I ***"***Try to boot the device to UEFI screen by following these steps below.

1. Shut down your Surface and wait about 10 seconds to make sure it's off.
2. Press and hold the volume-up button on your Surface, and, at the same time, press and release the power button.
3. The Microsoft or Surface logo appears on your screen. Continue to hold the volume-up button. Release the button once the UEFI screen appears. . . " The problem is that the laptop no longer appears to be in a state where it can be switched off or on. When power button is switched on or pressed, either alone or in combination with volume up button, the screen lights up periodically but remains blank. At no time does a surface logo appear. The other option suggested "If device won't boot to UEFI screen you may reimage the device using a USB recovery drive and Here are the steps on how to use your USB recovery drive to reset your Surface: Step 1: Make sure your Surface is turned off and plugged in, and then insert the USB recovery     drive into the USB port.  Step 2: Press and hold the volume-down button while you press and release the power button.  Step 3: When the Microsoft or Surface logo appears, release the volume-down button. . ."

I did make a bootable usb drive for windows 11 using a 128 GB flash drive and following instructions for creating microsoft's windows 11 installation meadia (I had not seen this answer then). Pressing volume down and then pressing and releasing the power button did not change the status of the screen described above (the screen lights up periodically but remains blank). Should I go ahead and prepare a proper USB recovery drive for surface lapptop 2 after FAT32 formatting using the right size for a USB drive (16/32GB only)?

Answer 1

Hi SarikaSingh,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your Surface Laptop 2 and I understand that there important data on the device also. Have you tried connecting the device to an external monitor? If not yet and possible, kindly try to do so and see if it would display on the external monitor. This seems to be a hardware issue already on either the device screen or the drive not booting up. I suggest contacting our live support for further assistance on this and also to check for other options available. You may contact them through the numbers listed in Global Customer Service phone numbers (microsoft.com) under For Business users. This works with Home users also, just select Surface then Home as a type of user in the IVR prompt. You may also reach them through this page: Contact Us - Microsoft Support following the steps below:

1: Go to Contact Us - Microsoft Support and sign-in your personal Microsoft Account

2: To make sure you are using the correct locale of the page, click the Globe icon on the lower-left corner of the page then select the country you are in.

3: Click Get support

4: On the Describe your issue box, type in Contact support then click on Get Help

5: Click on Contact Support at the bottom

4: On the next page, select Surface then Technical support then choose your Surface model and click on Confirm

5: These options should appear depending on which is available on you country. It would also show the available time of support if in case you accessed the page out of the time of operations.

       You may select **Provide your phone number and a support agent will call you** option and you will be ask to select and confirm your phone number then click **Confirm**. You will then receive a phone call from support in a while. 

      Selecting **Chat with support agent in your web browser** will ask you to confirm the email address associated with your Microsoft Account then click **Confirm**. 

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 2

Thank you. I will give it a try. I tried connecting to an external monitor but no luck. I don't think it is a hardware issue with the screen. I wrote flicker in the title but it really is the scree backlight coming on and going off as the on off switch is pressed-as if the device is trying to boot but the system appears to be basically irretrievably hung.

Answer 3

Hi SarikaSingh,

thank you for the response and I'm sorry to hear that connecting to an external monitor does not work also. Yes, please proceed in contacting our live support for further assistance on this.

Thank you for spending time here in the Community.

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 4

This is just FYI for others who may get into this situation. The reset and recovery did not work. The device does not shut down/off so it cannot be restarted. I tried to use a usb recovery for surface anyhow, as per the directions but because the laptop does not respond to any inputs of any kind other than the power button, which makes the screen backlight go off and on for a minute or so, there was no response to rebooting efforts. I contacted customer support and they concluded that the device cannot be revived and that it could potentially be a problem with motherboard and it may have been a result of windows 11 upgrade.