Surface flashes windows logo instead of booting

Question

I have had my surface pro tablet (5th gen) for around three years, it has been kept in absolutely perfect condition. It has been in a case with a screen protector and has never been dropped or taken any physical damage whatsoever. It has also always been fully updated.

Recently my device has been taking many many many attempts to start, up to hundreds of presses of the power button. I will press it once, then the windows logo flashes before the screen turns off, I have to repeat this process for upwards of ten minutes to actually get to the login screen where the computer works perfectly fine. Diagnostic tools including the surface diagnostic toolkit show no problems. The battery is also perfectly fine as far as I can tell.

Every time the tablet shuts down I am forced to repeat this ritual and I'm fairly confident that one day my pc will simply never turn on no matter how many times I try. Is there any fix for this?

I will not pay $450 in service fees to fix a computer that I've kept in immaculate condition, so I'm really hoping there's something I can do.

Answer 1

Hello Dewgong,

Thanks for reaching Microsoft Community and posting your concern here. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

In this case, we would highly recommend that you reset the Surface using a USB Recovery Image. This option reimages the entire device, including the partition on the hard drive. It is the most complete form of reset.  You must have at least 16GB/32GB of USB Flash drive and it must be formatted to FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image.

Note: This removes all the files and apps on your device. You will need to back up your data and reinstall the desktop apps or run updates after the completion.

To download the Recovery Image:

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1. Visit the page at http://www.surface.com/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/downloadablerecoveryimage
2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account (this is the email address we asked you for at the start of the call)
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.

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Format USB 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

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Create a recovery drive:

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

Perform USB recovery image:

1. Turn the Surface off by pressing the power button
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. When prompted, choose your language options and keyboard layout
7. Select Troubleshoot
8. Select Recover from a drive. If prompted for a recovery key, select Skip this drive at the bottom of the screen.
9. If prompted, select Repartition the drives.

Hope this helps. Let me know how the issue progresses by simply replying on this thread.

StevenK

Answer 2

After finally getting the chance to try resetting the surface, it didn't help my issue. I did a full reset with the recovery drive after backing up all my important files, but I still need to press the power button many many times to get the computer to actually reach the login screen. Yesterday it was over an hour of trying.

Answer 3

After finally getting the chance to try resetting the surface, it didn't help my issue. I did a full reset with the recovery drive after backing up all my important files, but I still need to press the power button many many times to get the computer to actually reach the login screen. Yesterday it was over an hour of trying.

Hi Dewgong, I have the exact same problem and system and it to was hardly used, and is like new, only I can’t even get the restore to work system just stays in boot loop power on button show windows icon and then sits back down, my daughter just powered up a few days ago and this happened, have you had any luck I too believe we should not have to pay 450 for this , there is a bunch of people recently with this same issue, if you have any luck let me know and I will do the same

Thanks