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I'm having problems with 20h2 on a 1st Gen Surface Studio and was hoping someone has some info to help me. I've avoided this update like the plague since late 2020 because of a Monitor driver issue that Microsoft never resolved. Now MS/Windows is basically forcing me to accept the 20h2 update with a out-of-service warning. The problem is after installing 20h2, the Surface Studio display is cut in half. It's a 4500x3000 display that 20h2 sees as a 2250x3000 multi-monitor setup but only one half displaying in portrait format. The other half is just black. The first thing I did after the update was check display settings and drivers. This is what I found,
Prior to the 20h2 update, in Device Manager, under Monitor there's a single Surface Display driver. No problems. Everything is grand.
After installing 20h2, in Device Manager, under Monitor there are two Surface Display drivers installed. Problems. Surface Studio screen is wrecked being limited to 2250x3000 with only the right side of the screen working. I have no idea why two Monitor drivers are needed when prior to 20h2 only one was installed, but it's obviously causing problems.
Going into display settings I noticed the device is set to output to a second screen. I tried to set the monitor to properly display single screen output at 4500x3000 but this resulted in just a black screen. In Win10 settings and in Nvidia Display settings, 4500x3000 is no longer a supported resolution. The GPU lists the Surface Monitor as a Laptop display which kinda makes sense since the 980m is a laptop part (which doesn't look good in terms of tech prowess considering what the OG Studio costs). But I'm not understanding why a driver change was needed regardless. IT 101...if it's not broke, then don't f**k with it.
The only other idea I have is to install a proper driver for the Surface Studio Monitor but Microsoft seems to only have driver bundles for the Studio. I don't want that because I only need a single Surface Display Driver that works as opposed to the garbage setup that came in 20h2. I also don't trust the bundles because of the very real possibility that something else could go wrong.
Basically, somewhere in MS when 20h2 was being developed, someone got the great idea to screw with the Monitor drivers in the update for the Studio. The 1st gen Surface Studio absolutely hates this and here it is in May 2021 (when the update debuted in late 2020), I have yet to find a solution for this. This has to be a specific issue for the Studio because I also have a Surface Book 3 and that updated fine in late 2020. At this point, I'm about to roll back 20h2 (again) and accept that my Studio will never be updated again.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question. To protect privacy, user profiles for migrated questions are anonymized.
Have you tried the Nvidia drivers
https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/geforce-experience/download/
The driver wizard will install the correct driver for your chipset (choose the creator option rather than the gamer).
I have not had the same experience as you, but I am using the Studio 2 so there may be some difference.
Thanks for the reply. I initially saw your post a couple of hours ago and my first thought after reading the question was "I should have the latest drivers, I manually checked just last week at the latest when the last attempt to update borked."
But then, I remember manually checking via Windows 10, not via the Geforce Experience. After some thought, I couldn't remember the last time I installed updated drivers from the Geforce Experience since I kinda stopped taking the 980m in OG Studio seriously. Drama. So taking your suggestion, I hopped over and see that the new drivers you mentioned were indeed, not installed. So I install those, tell Win 10 to install 20h2 and nearly 2 hours later (slow download speeds...Marvell?), the installation was complete and the Surface display is functioning properly. Thanks for the suggestion. I was really ready to go rogue and go off the reservation. Windows update be damned.
The update still scared me a bit though because my Studio forced a full shut down due to overheating mid-update, I'm not even in a hot room.
You will need to open the Studio up and clean out the lint. I have a very clean dust free home and I still find I need to open up the studio's base twice a year to clean the heat disipation fins and fans. There is a Youtube video of the dis-assmbley of a Surface Studio, you don't have to do much taking apart (just the base cover). You'll find yourself with a much cooler quieter machine that will last longer.