Surface Laptop 2 won't boot Windows, screen flashing on/off

Question

Hey there, my laptop suddenly stopped working, with no mechanical or liquid damage whatsoever.

My Surface Laptop 2 isn't starting Windows. When I turn it on, the Microsoft logo appears with a keyboard backlight, but then the logo suddenly goes away in a fashion like something wrong with screen drivers as screen brightness changes rapidly and some artifacts are presented. It might appear again once or twice in the next 10 seconds, but then it disappears. After that, the screen starts flashing for 10 seconds: it goes off, then on (both screens are completely black, in one case it's on as you can see the difference on an IPS panel), then off again. No artifacts or brightness leaps, just off/on. Then it stops.

If you press a Power button, the screen starts flashing 3 times again (for around 10s), then turns off again. If you hold the Power button for 1m, again you can see the MS logo, and the story repeats.

Interestingly, the first time I faced this issue Laptop was able to get over it in 2-3 min and boot after, I even had 1-2 minutes of normal Windows usage (namely, started a game I've been playing for 2 years on this laptop). But then it rebooted on its own, the screen flashed 2-3 times again, then it showed me a screen with Microsoft logo and 'Automatic repair started' sign, and it disappeared shortly after. That was it, since then I'm in this boot loop. That's why I don't deem it a hardware problem.

This is especially frustrating as my first Surface Laptop 2 had suddenly its hard drive fail, so Microsoft replaced it with this one, and now it fails again. Since I'm not able to send it to the official repair service (I live in Russia), I need to solve this on my own.

What I've tried to do: turn it on while holding f6, didn't work.

Answer 1

Hi MstislavGrivachev,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Community and posting your inquiry.   

This sounds like the Windows system is corrupted. Please re-image the Windows system using the USB recovery. This process will wipe everything out on your device and install a fresh operating system. Please make sure that you have back up your files and data either in an External Hard drive or use your OneDrive app. You’ll need a USB (USB stick) with at least 16GB/32 GB and format it clean (make sure that you have chosen FAT32 as the file system while formatting the USB). You'll need a PC running Windows 10 or Surface Device to download the system files/recovery image on the Microsoft Website.    Note: USB/Flash drives are the only required device for you to perform the follow steps below successfully.• Download the System Files or Recovery Image:1. Go to the Download a recovery image for your Surface.2. If you’re signed in with your Microsoft account, you will be prompt to choose the device from the list of devices on your Microsoft Account. If you’re not signed in, choose a product on the drop-down menu and provide the Serial Number of the device.3. Once the download is finished, go to the file, right-click and choose Extract all then choose the USB/Flash drive.

• Perform the USB recovery: 

1. Shutdown the device by pressing/holding the power button for 10 seconds until it’s off.  
   2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port. 
2. Press and hold the power button for 15 seconds.
3. Choose your language options and keyboard layout. 
4. Select Troubleshoot. 
5. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive. 
6. Select “Recovery”.

Keep us updated by replying on this thread.

Answer 2

Hey John. Thanks for your rapid response. Unfortunately, that didn't work.

What I did:

1. Downloaded an image file (around 7.2GB) to my Mac
2. Erased a 16GB flash USB drive with formatting to FAT32 (re-checked)
3. Extracted the files on my Mac, then transferred the folder to the drive. Plugged the Surface to charger just in case.

(if a PC only is needed with extraction to the flash drive directly, and a Mac isn't suitable, please let me know)

4. Tried to turn the Surface off. The problem is I don't really see when it's off or on. I hold the button for 10s, but it keeps flashing on the 11th second. If I keep holding for >30s, I could see a Microsoft logo, but still, I don't know when it's off.
5. So, I've plugged the drive in anyway and tried holding the power button several times for 15s, no reaction. Still the same behavior.

It seems that power button only scenarios aren't enough.

Answer 3

Thank you for confirming, MstislavGrivachev. A Windows PC is recommended on this process.

Let us know how it go through using a Windows PC.

Answer 4

Hi again, John. Unfortunately, that didn't work even with a PC.

The behavior changed for a while, though. The laptop showed the Microsoft logo with 'Please wait', then, a couple of minutes with flashes later, with an 'Automatic repair started' sign. After that, the behavior became 'normal', with flashes and so on.

A friend of mine, an IT specialist, suggested that this Windows file isn't enough; that the laptop needs an image from a Windows 10 computer in order to understand that this system file on a drive needs to be ran. He inserted a USB drive with some kind of this Windows image, and magic happened: the laptop booted Windows as nothing happened, showed a lockscreen, and even got unlocked via face recognition (he recognized me with WHello). We looked at the familiar homescreen for a second, but then it rebooted again and that was it.

That's the story for now. Any ideas?

Answer 5

Hi John Neil_J, I am facing a similar problem with my Surface Laptop 2. Were you able to fix the issue?

MstislavGrivachev, this seems to be an issue with most of the surface devices. I started facing the issue within few months of buying the laptop. Please advice on the next steps. Thanks.