Unable to Setup new Surface Laptop Studio

Question

I have not been able to get through the initial setup process for my Surface Laptop Studio. Here is a description of what I did and where I am up to:

a. I was provided with what I believe is a brand new device as an outcome of a repair under warranty after my previous device failed and could not be fixed.

b. Just looking at the new device, the first time, I opened the laptop it immediately sprung to life (I had not powered it on) with the black screen with the Windows logo followed by the screen requesting the language. Before I could do anything on that screen the device suddenly shutdown without any warning - (or I assumed so as the screen was blank and was completely unresponsive to keyboard or touch pad). At this time I had not connected it to its charger.

c. I connected it to the charger, waited a while, then powered it back on with the power-on key. It went through the same sequence as above but this time it appeared to freeze at the first language request screen: it did not accept any input from touch pad nor from the keyboard. After some time (maybe 5 minutes) I shut it down by holding down the power key for a while.

d. After waiting a couple of minutes, I restarted it again. The startup progressed to the language request screen but this time it accepted my language choice but initially hung on the next screen, the country selection page (where I could not select anything), then it shutdown again without warning.

e. From then on I tried restarting it many times and each time was unable to complete the setup process. Sometimes it would hang on the Language request screen, sometimes it let me progress further into the process but never finish it. Most of the time it would just shutdown without warning at one of the pages, occasionally it would hang. Most of the time after each re-start I would have start the sequence right form the very start again but sometimes the process would skip some of the previously-processed steps. Sometimes it would show a page indicating it was checking for updates but I don't know if any were installed as that was not indicated. The furthest I ever got in the process was connecting my Android phone to the device via the QR code provided on the screen of the device.

I believe that it is possible that the instability could be caused out of date or faulty software so am considering going through the recovery process where I understand I can re-install everything from scratch. Is that advisable? Can I do it directly from the MS Surface or do I need a separate download from another device? According to the box my machine came in it came with OS Build 10.0.22621 . I assume it's Windows 11 as that was on my old machine which this new one replaces.

Are there other options I should look at?

Answer 1

Hi Tim Pearce1,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I’m sorry to hear about this, it’s none of our intention for this to happen and definitely this is not the experience we want to have. Based on the description you posted, it seems that you have an issue with your Surface Laptop Studio. You received a replacement device which is not working out of the box and keeps freezing. This could be due to a corrupted operating system or a hardware issue.

We can collaborate to identify the optimal resolution to this problem. Another option is to reset your Surface device to its default settings. This will require us to access the automatic repair screen on your Surface.

If your device is stuck on the out-of-the-box setup, you can try opening the Automatic Repair screen by following these steps:

1. Press and hold the power button to turn off your device.
2. Press the power button again to turn on your device.
3. As soon as the Windows logo appears, press and hold the power button again to turn off your device.
4. Repeat this process two more times.
5. On the fourth attempt, let your device boot normally. This should open the Automatic Repair screen.
6. It will scan your device you will see advance option menu below.
7. Click advance option and then click on troubleshoot and then select reset> the select remove everything then select Local install> then click reset. The process will take few minutes so make sure the charger is connected.
8. If the reset within the device did not fix the issue. The next steps to fully fix the concern is to download and install the USB recovery image on your Surface device.

To Download USB Recovery Image - http://aka.ms/sri    

REQUIREMENTS:

To ensure compatibility with your Surface device, it is recommended to use a USB flash drive with a minimum storage capacity of 16 GB to 32 GB and format it to FAT32. If the storage capacity exceeds 32 GB, it is not possible to format it to FAT32 as only XFAT and NTFS options are available. Please note that if a USB flash drive is formatted to XFAT or NTFS, it will not be detected on your Surface device. Need to use another Windows PC to download the recovery image.

NOTE:

Once the download is complete, create a folder on your desktop and rename it to ‘recovery’. Extract the recovery image to the folder you created on your desktop. After the extraction is complete, select all the files in the folder and copy and paste them directly to your USB flash drive. Do not copy the folder directly to the USB. Once the copying is done, remove the USB and connect it to your Surface.

When you are ready, please click this link Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface - Microsoft Support to follow the step on how to use the recovery image.

Thank you for your understanding. Please let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Christopher.

Answer 2

Thanks for your help here. Unfortunately neither the reset via automatic repair nor the recovery of Windows via USB worked.

The reset itself worked but when going through the Windows set up process I had the same problems as encountered previously, although I did get a fair way through the process the first time after the reset.

I created a USB recovery drive as you recommended. There were two versions to choose from, 21H2 and 22H2 so I actually created two drives but when extracting the 22H2 version there were two CRC errors (in files install.swm and install2.swm)** so I used the 21H2 version. The installation started ok and completed 'Readying Devices'* but then the machine went dead when 'Readying'* (only the cooling fan was running but eventually stopped). It did not respond to the power-on key but eventually, by holding it down for a long time, I got a black screen with white windows logo followed by some activity ending with an 'Install Windows' message saying

"Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer restart the installation."

I tried repeating the Windows installation form the USB drive but the result was exactly the same. That's as far as I could go.

I noticed that the directions for creating the flash recovery drive were slightly different on the MS Web site to those you provided (the site says to use a Recovery application where you just say to copy the files). I did as you said which made sense and seemed to work ok.

My conclusion is that I still have a hardware problem. Two machines in a row seems odd. I assume my power supply is not glitching the machine since I had issues even before I connected it. (It's the original MS 102W charger.).

*from memory. I am not certain of exact wording.

** Someone at Microsoft should really fix that I think.

Answer 3

Hi Tim Pearce1,

If the steps you provided seem to work but you still have a hardware issue, please note that processing replacement orders, checking the status of orders, and escalating cases are not within the scope of our support here in the community. We do not have the necessary tools to create or check orders. Only our live support team can assist you with this concern. They will be the ones to assist you right away if they confirm a hardware issue on your Surface.

To contact the live support team.

1. Go to Contact Us - Microsoft Support
2. Choose how you would like to get support for your Surface device.
3. Type in the problem you need help with.
4. Look at any available solutions offered and select Contact Support.

You can also check this forum article for a more detailed guide in reaching our live support: How to get Phone and Chat Support (for Surface Home/Consumer - Microsoft Community

You can also check this link. Contact Microsoft Store Support - Microsoft Support

Thank you for your understanding. Please let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Christopher.

Answer 4

Hi Christopher,

Thank you for the information.

As I had concluded it was a hardware issue, soon after my previous post, I took the machine back to the retailer where I had bought the machine as they provide warranty support through Microsoft. (I also have an extended warranty through the retailer so need to go through them.). I am expecting them to contact me soon with a replacement.

My aim here was to determine whether it was 'just' a software problem or something more than that which it appears to be. So I am hoping the replacement will be trouble free and I will not need further assistance here.

Thanks for your help,

Tim.