surface pro 4 screen is dead ... just will not power on

Question

I was reading a pdf and the screen froze. I tried a hard reset and the screen will just not come on after that. I have tried all options available from support and just don't know what to do. there is complete lockdown because of the corona situation and there is no support.  after 3 days, when I tried again in the morning, the boot screen appeared but when I tried to proceed further, and when the system went to reboot , it again ended up in a black screen. the led indicator of the power charger lights up always and also the backlight of the keyboard .  can someone pease help ??

Answer 1

Hi piyush 74,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

It seems like your Surface device is already having a hardware issue and this needs to be replaced but before jumping into conclusion, what I highly suggest is to reimage the Surface device using a USB recovery drive. Reimaging the device applies when you can still turn on the Surface device and the logo still appears. 

To reimage the device successfully, kindly follow the instructions below.

- HOW TO DOWNLOAD, CREATE AND USE A USB RECOVERY DRIVE -

To download the Recovery Image:

You'll need a PC running Windows 7 or later or a Surface Device and a USB flashdrive (16GB or 32 GB).

1. Visit the page 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 your Surface 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 and continue with the reimaging process.

If this helps, feel free to mark this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread if you need further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z

Answer 2

hello Crest_Z,

thank you for the response.

firstly, you say that the reimaging is possible is the device still powers on and displays the logo. however, as I mentioned, the l.e.d. of the power cord turns on, the backlight of the detachable keyboard turns on, but nothing appears  on the screen. I don't see a logo and the screen remains black. is it still possible in this scenario ?

also, if I reimage the device, will I be able to recover my existing data or not ? I have a lot of important data on the device which is of critical importance to me !!!

Answer 3

Hi piyush 74,

Thank you for your response.

If the keyboard backlight whenever it's connected to the device, the issue could be the display chip of your Surface device is already defective and the only way for us to confirm that is to try extending the device display to an external monitor. If it's a display issue, normally, when  you get to extend its display to an external monitor successfully, you can see the mouse cursor moving on the second screen. To do that, you need to press Windows +P on the keyboard and try to just press the right portion of your Surface device screen to somehow hit one of the options to get the display extended or duplicated.  So if there's any image that is going to show up on an external monitor, then that's the only way to extract all the files that needs to be saved before reimaging the Surface device. To start with this process, you can press and hold the power button and the volume + for 15-20 seconds up until you're not saying any light on the keyboard. After few seconds, kindly press the power button to turn it on again and the keyboard light should be visible as an indication that the device is being turned on.  If no display still coming on, try to duplicate or extend the Surface device display on external monitor and follow the instruction suggested above.

If this helps, feel free to mark this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread if you still need further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z

Answer 4

Hi crest_z,

Thank you for the response. 

I had tried this by connecting an external monitor and then pressing windows + p. However, it did not strike me to touch the screen on the top right to choose a display option!! Will try first thing in the morning.....

However, my surface had an access password ..... face recognition or a number password..... how do i get around that ? :(

Also, if the display chip is already defective, will reimaging rectify the defect and then the display will work as before , or will something else also have to be done, like maybe changing the display chip ?

Answer 5

Hi piyush 74,

You can give it a try but that not's a guarantee. In this case, the device is already subject for replacement but we're exhausting everything to see if we can still fix this issue so that is why I'm giving you the option to reimage the device but if you don't have any USB flashdrive because you have to buy one first, I'd rather recommend it to you to just get a replacement for that unit since one of the Community members just posted about this kind of issue and he had tried reimaging the device but it didn't help it. You can read what he posted from this link :https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pro-4-screen-is-blank-keyboard-lights-up/7b3bdcde-a50a-4126-9d34-07b0f2d196e1

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z