Solved SP4 Boot Loop

[Rankin]

Hi All,

So, my SP4 went through a windows 10 update last night. Now when I turn it on the Surface logo appears the spinning dots then appear and then it goes dark and repeats this process.

I have made a recovery USB but when I try to reset the SP4 choosing the "keep my files" option then the following message appears: "The drive where windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."

When I choose the "Remove everything" option the following message appears: "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing."

Any ideas?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Angus

 

[Rankin]

So contacted Microsoft Support, after going through a number of steps the guy decided that the hard drive was bricked so they are sending out a new device ASAP.

Thought it would be useful to let people know if they have the same issue.

 

[leeshor]

Glad to hear they are taking care of you.

 

[edteamslr]

I tried to do a factory reset on an SP4 i5 8GB. It got stuck at 7% and wouldn't go any further. A hard reset said - "TPM detects changes - continue?" Another few hours on 7% I then said no and cancelled the TPM, now it is stuck in circular boot but with only UEFI screen for comfort (little). I don't need a solution because I am sending the damn thing back and keeping my M3. I prefer it anyway and it's been less temperamental anyway but I just thought I would warn people who are tempted to do a full reset.
The background is that I had applied all the latest patches on offer but not made a recovery disc. The moral of the story is not to be too hasty.

 

[bnathan]

I work for a retailer and nearly EVERY SP4 has the 7% recovery error you are talking about. The only way to fix it is to download the image from Microsoft and recover with that but it still takes hours (getting stuck at 50 something percent for a long time) when all the Pro 3 models only take minutes. Very strange and hopefully will be fixed with an update.

 

[edteamslr]

Thanks the reply. To be that common it must surely not be beyond Microsoft to want to fix it. Once we know all the different ways an SP4 can die we will come to understand how to troubleshoot any eventuality. Then again some manufacturers just test the thing before they sell it but if we can't expect that then this forum is the next best thing.

 

[leeshor]

I think that statement was terribly broad. None of the 5 SP4s I'm responsible for have had that problem.

 

[bnathan]

That's why I said nearly every. How many have you had to do a full recovery on? All of our 4 display units had the issue. My own personal unit had the issue and I have had customers coming back with the issue. Before we spoke to Microsoft we were actually replacing the units for the customers believing it was a hardware issue.

So no not every single one we have ever sold but it does seem to be a lot has this issue. Maybe it was a batch of them as we have so far only had 2 deliveries of stock.

 

[leeshor]

Well, actually I've never had to do a recovery and according to 2 other people I know with a total of over 35 SPs hava never had to do one either. Lucky I guess.

 

[lovemysurface]

I've reset two different Surface Pro 4's. no issues as described here.

I had that happen with a SP3, though. I unstuck it by doing a two button-shutdown. It was scary but, it worked.