Surface Pro 7 Stuck on Black Screen Windows Logo

Question

I was playing a game on my Surface Pro 7 and it suddenly went black. I attempted to turn it back on, and it only got as far as the initial black screen with stationary Windows logo. I attempted the recommended fixes (letting it sit, rebooting, recovery USB), tried doing any and all recommended keyboard tricks, and drained the battery to try again with a fresh charge. It has been 2 days and still no luck. I called my local Best Buy, and they said there is nothing they can do as they are not certified to open the Surface Pro 7.

Is there anything else I can do? I purchased this February 2020 and mostly used it for document storage. All updates were done regularly, and it was still practically new.

Answer 1

Hi Erin2023,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing issues with your Surface Pro 7. Based on the information you provided, it seems like your device is stuck on the Windows logo screen and won't boot up properly. This can be caused by a number of factors, including software issues, hardware problems, or a combination of both.

I would like to ask though, when the Windows logo appears, are there any spinning dots that appeared also below the logo or none? Also, when the Windows logo screen appears, does it just stay there, or it would turn off after a few seconds?

Here are some troubleshooting steps that you can try to resolve the issue:

1. Perform a hard reset: Press and hold the power button on your Surface Pro 7 for 20 seconds, then release it. Wait for a few seconds, then press the power button again to turn on your device. This can help to clear any temporary glitches that may be causing the problem.
2. Try booting into Safe Mode: Try to boot your Surface to Safe mode by following the steps provided under "From a black or blank screen" section on this page: Start your PC in safe mode in Windows - Microsoft Support. See if your device boots up properly. If it does, this could indicate that a third-party app or driver is causing the issue.

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 2

Thank you for responding! No, there is only the 4 white squares with no additional items. The 4 white squares stay there until I force the tablet to shut down. The other day it was 5 hours of waiting for it to do anything else before I forced the shutdown.

I have completed Troubleshooting Step 1 with no change. I was unable to complete Troubleshooting Step 2, as it would not enter Safe Mode. It is either turned off or on the black screen with 4 squares.

Answer 3

Hi Erin2023,

Thank you for the response and sorry to hear that the issue persists. You mentioned that you already tried doing USB Recovery, may I know what hap[pened you tried performing USB Recovery? Did you use the Surface Recovery Image? I would like to make sure if these steps below were followed in doing the USB Recovery:

This option will reimage the entire device and reload Windows including the drivers and firmware. It is the most complete form of Reset and it will wipe out everything on the device. You will need also a 16GB/32GB of flash drive that must be formatted into FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image. See the steps below for guidance.

How to Download, Create and Use a USB recovery drive

To download the Recovery Image:

• You'll need another working device running on Windows.

1. Go to: Download the recovery image for your Surface
2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account
3. From the list of Surface devices available, select the device that you need a recovery image for
   Please note that while you will only be presented with devices that are currently registered on your account, you will also be presented with the option to get an image for a different type of device. If you try to use this option, you will be prompted to enter the serial number for that device
4. Download the recovery image using the button on the page
5. When the download bar pops up at the bottom of your screen, save the file in a location you will be able to find it.

 Format USB Drive:

• Note: Formatting a recovery drive will erase anything that is already stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using it to create a Surface USB recovery drive.

1. Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC.
2. From the desktop, open File Explorer
3. Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format
4. Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start
5. Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive
6. Tap or click OK when the format is complete

Create a recovery drive:

1. On your Surface or PC, open recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it or right click then select Extract and then Extract all.
2. Select the USB drive you formatted earlier for the location and click Extract.

Use a USB recovery drive to reset your Surface:

1. Shutdown the Surface
2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port
3. Press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker
4. Press and release the power button
5. When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker
6. Surface will start the recovery software on the USB recovery drive
7. When prompted, choose your language options and keyboard layout
8. Select Troubleshoot
9. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC.
10. If prompted, select Repartition the drives
11. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive

If the steps above were followed and still you were unable to perform the recovery, please proceed in running the Surface Data Eraser Tool on the device then perform again the USB Recovery. See this page for the steps and guide in using the Surface Data Eraser Tool: Microsoft Surface Data Eraser (Surface) - Surface | Microsoft Learn

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 4

Good morning!

When I tried to start my Surface from the USB Recovery drive, nothing happened. The screen remained on the Windows logo. There was only a black screen with four white squares, no additional images that indicated it was "thinking". Therefore, I was also unable to run the data eraser, too.

Answer 5

Do I need to do something else?

Thanks