Solved Help with Freeze on Boot?

[mmoss2]

I've had my surface pro 3 for months and generally love it. However, it has one problem that makes me crazy - it freezes when I boot about 40% of the time or more. It will show the Surface logo and then just freeze ... I have to hold the power button until it turns off and then try again.

I've done factory reset about a half-dozen times and I've tried installing fewer programs, installing fewer apps, etc, each time I do a factory restore but I still have the same problem regardless of what I install. On my current setup I only have Office Professional suite and a few MUI apps to edit photos installed, and that's about it.

It has been so persistent that I did an advanced exchange to get a new unit ... but the refurbished one has a 2" scratch down the back, and has some power problem that causes it to stay warm to the touch and the fan runs constantly (meaning battery life is not usable for me). So I'm going to try to send that one back and keep my original.

If anyone knows how to resolve this, it would be very much appreciated. I tried searching for "freeze on boot" and I don't see a solution, but I apologize if this has already been covered in another thread.

Thanks for your help.

EDIT: one clarification - once I've got it booted, it works like a champ until I have to shutdown or restart.

 

[nipponham]

You’ve done a half-dozen resets (not refreshes) and you’re still having boot problems? That is definitely a hardware issue. Although you’ve done an exchange and weren’t happy with the second machine, it’s not an either/or proposition. You are well within your rights to return both to get a machine that you are satisfied with. I’ve heard of people on this board exchanging their machines four or more times.

In the meanwhile, (although I doubt it would help since resets did not solve your problem), you can try a startup repair by accessing Advanced Startup Option. Go to PC settings>Update and recovery>Recovery and select Advanced startup for the machine to reboot to show you the ASO menu. From there, select troubleshooting, then select Advanced options to get to Startup repair. I don’t know if it will help, but it definitely won’t hurt.

 

[malberttoo]

I've had my surface pro 3 for months and generally love it. However, it has one problem that makes me crazy - it freezes when I boot about 40% of the time or more. It will show the Surface logo and then just freeze ... I have to hold the power button until it turns off and then try again.

I've done factory reset about a half-dozen times and I've tried installing fewer programs, installing fewer apps, etc, each time I do a factory restore but I still have the same problem regardless of what I install. On my current setup I only have Office Professional suite and a few MUI apps to edit photos installed, and that's about it.

It has been so persistent that I did an advanced exchange to get a new unit ... but the refurbished one has a 2" scratch down the back, and has some power problem that causes it to stay warm to the touch and the fan runs constantly (meaning battery life is not usable for me). So I'm going to try to send that one back and keep my original.

If anyone knows how to resolve this, it would be very much appreciated. I tried searching for "freeze on boot" and I don't see a solution, but I apologize if this has already been covered in another thread.

Thanks for your help.

EDIT: one clarification - once I've got it booted, it works like a champ until I have to shutdown or restart.

It definitely sounds like your original has a hardware issue of some kind.

Personally, I would not exchange an original SP3 for a "new" one under warranty, you will almost certainly get a refurbished unit. Which in all honestly I never used to think was a bad thing, but there have just been too many complaints about them here. Instead, I would just return the SP3 and get a refund, then take the money and buy a new one.

Hope it helps.

 

[GreyFox7]

MS is STILL making a lot of rookie mistakes in running their hardware business.

It doesn't sound like there's a fix for the original unit although Resetting the replacement might fix the issues with that one except for the physical issues. Your plan is reasonable although one day the original unit may stop booting at all but I assume you're still intending to replace it.

 

[Big_Balls]

Are you using the TypeCover?
I have exactly the same issue for me,i figured out that the TypeCover causes the problem at mySP3.
I only got the freezes if the TypeCover is flipped to the backside of the SP3.
If it is just opened or disconnected i get no freeze, maybe you can try this out.

 

[bluegrass]

I just setup a new computer for a client here where I work and it did the same thing several times. I just pushed the power button until the screen went blank and pushed it again and it would always boot fine. I installed the machine two days ago and I haven't heard of any problems from the user but she might not be shutting it down. We're suppose to just log off and not shut our computers down so the server people can push out updates at night.

 

[mmoss2]

Are you using the TypeCover?
I have exactly the same issue for me,i figured out that the TypeCover causes the problem at mySP3.
I only got the freezes if the TypeCover is flipped to the backside of the SP3.
If it is just opened or disconnected i get no freeze, maybe you can try this out.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions!! I had never thought about the type cover ... but now that you mention it, YES - I do think that the type cover is folded back when I have the boot problem. I use a tablet stand on my desk at work, so the type cover is always folded back. I put it in the stand before booting and that is when I have most often noticed the problem. I will try your suggestion and report back! Very hopeful and optimistic.

EDIT: I made sure not to fold the type cover back during boot or restart today and had my first day with no freezes! I've even loaded all of the software I had been afraid to install because I thought they might be the cause of the problem (Oracle for ODBC connections, Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro, etch). Many shut down and restarts later all seems well. Thanks, again - will post back in a week or so to confirm if this is officially solved.

Incidentally - does anyone know if this is a problem with the type cover hardware or if it is normal? Should I try to return my type cover?

 

[buers]

I see the same. Perhaps 30% of all tries, my sp3 was hanging at the black screen with the "surface" displaying on the screen only (and the animated dots, that dance around would not appear). It never happened after waking up from hibernation, neither from complete shutdown, only when rebooting (i.e. after updates). Now I paid attention at the concrete circumstances. I have never seen this problem recently, when rebooting with the type cover not attached or with the type cover in front of the screen. I have seen this problem several times, with the type cover bent behind the screen. I also saw this using the docking station several times.

Whenever the SP3 hangs in the surface screen, pressing power for something like 10 seconds would help. Pressing a second time the power button always yielded in a successful boot, even when the type cover was bent back.

So, after having understood the circumstances, in which this problem can be seen, I still wonder, if this is related to my device, or if this is basically just a well known flaw of the SP3.

 

[malberttoo]

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions!! I had never thought about the type cover ... but now that you mention it, YES - I do think that the type cover is folded back when I have the boot problem. I use a tablet stand on my desk at work, so the type cover is always folded back. I put it in the stand before booting and that is when I have most often noticed the problem. I will try your suggestion and report back! Very hopeful and optimistic.

EDIT: I made sure not to fold the type cover back during boot or restart today and had my first day with no freezes! I've even loaded all of the software I had been afraid to install because I thought they might be the cause of the problem (Oracle for ODBC connections, Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro, etch). Many shut down and restarts later all seems well. Thanks, again - will post back in a week or so to confirm if this is officially solved.

Incidentally - does anyone know if this is a problem with the type cover hardware or if it is normal? Should I try to return my type cover?

The TypeCover does have a sensor, so that it knows if the cover is folded back and can then disable keyboard/touchpad input.

So I'm guessing it's a bug with that setup, and you guys are now making it well-known...

 

[mmoss2]

FWIW, I can confirm my problem is identical: Surface logo with no spinning dots, it only happens on restart, and only happens when cover is folded back. I've been paying close attention all week and have only had it happened twice - both times were as stated above. So at least I have a work around and now feel comfortable installing all my software. I'm still curious as you are - is this a bug or should I exchange my type cover.

 

[nipponham]

Wow, nice bug find! Just tried it on mine and I can confirm that with the typecover folded back, boots from off state started fine but reboots froze on the Surface logo screen.

 

[ChrisPanzer]

This has happened to my unit as well but would have never put those two things together. Odd.

Looks as if M$ is going to have to amend their Sp3 user manual, to include: "When resetting, make sure TypeCover is not folded back."