Stuck on reboot loop

[caffewmilk]

My Surface RT is stuck in a reboot loop.

First it shows a big smiley face with the message: Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart.

It restarts and then it shows the message: Preparing automatic repair

After a while it reboots again and keeps repeating the same cycle.

I have downloaded the USB recovery files, copied them a FAT32 formatted thumbdrive and followed the directions to boot from USB recovery key. The table acts as if there is not USB drive inserted.

I have tried numerous times with different USB keys and it still ignores the USB key.

Am I stuck with a dead Windows RT table?

Thank you.

 

[GreyFox7]

Sometimes having an SD card installed prevents booting the USB, if you have one try removing it.

Use Diskpart at a Windows Command Prompt to "clean" (removes all partitions including hidden partitions) the USB first then format it fat32.

 

[caffewmilk]

Thanks for the tips. I had already used diskpart but tried it again just in case. Still it won't boot from the USB key. I think there is something severely wrong with either the internal storage or RAM. Also, there is no SD card inserted, though it would be nice to try and boot off an SD card instead. It would also be nice to be able to use some kind of keyboard shortcut during boot to get into recovery mode. I've been searching since for such an option but everything just points to the same steps. I noticed that even though holding the power button for 10 seconds seems to power it off, when I press Volume Down and click the power, the Surface logo shows up too fast. As though it was on some sort of sleep mode as opposed to a complete shutdown. Maybe it's just my years of waiting for computers to boot and this tablet is just much faster to power on and boot.

Anyway, I feel for those who spent 100s of dollars to get an RT and are now stuck in my situation. Based on search results, others have just spent 100s of dollars more to either get it fixed or to buy a new device.

Let me give you a little background on this RT: The company I work for has e-cycle bins where our IT department or anyone else can drop off broken/unwanted electronics. I'm in the IT department and was dumping a broken device in one of the bins when there it was: a Surface RT 32GB with a blue keyboard cover and the charger. I was in disbelief that someone would throw it away just like that. So I took it into the lab, hooked everything up and hit the power button. It turned on, no cracked screen, no scratches as it has a screen protector. The only problem is the issue mentioned in my original post. Sigh!

 

[GreyFox7]

You have to hold the power button for 30 seconds to forcibly power off, keep holding it even if you see the screen go darker or think it went off. sometimes I go a little longer just for good measure.

 

[caffewmilk]

Forgot to ask: should I be doing the recovery without the keyboard attached? Reason being that after I let go of the power button, the keyboard lits up for a few seconds. The same happens when I plug in the USB thumbdrive.

 

[GreyFox7]

I cant remember needing the keyboard for anything but you can attach it if needed. Id go without it.

 

[caffewmilk]

Well, tried it without keyboard, still it won't boot off USB. And found out why it was thrown away: the battery is not good. I unplugged the charger to try without it and it won't turn on.

I'm taking a break but "I'll Be Back!"...