Super long boot times, hanging at black Surface screen

[eludlow]

Hi there. First post, so hello.

I've been given an old MS Surface Pro 3. The touch screen is knackered after it got sat on (!) but that's easily fixed by disabling it entirely and relying on the touchpad.

However it has another problem that I can't fathom. When starting up, sometimes it loads perfectly and quickly. Other times, I'm stuck at the black "Surface" screen for a loooooong time. I think the longest I've had to wait is about 45 minutes. However when it DOES progress past that, it performs fine and is as speedy as I'd hope it would be. Trying a reset (volume + power button) when it hangs achieves nothing, it just boots back to the Surface logo and then it's pot luck how long the boot will take.

I've done a totally clean intall of Windows on this, so I don't think it's software related. The firmware is also up to date. I can only think this is some hardware fault, but it seems odd how random it is.

Has anyone seen this before, or know if there's anything that can be done?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[eludlow]

Well I can't quite believe the simplicity of the fix for this...but disconnecting the keyboard until booted in to Windows seems to have bought the boot times down to something bearable. Still around a minute which seems long to me, but I can cope with that!

 

[ScottyS]

Very interesting. It seems your SP3 has trouble with that keyboard. It would be great if you could try booting with a different keyboard and also having someone with another SP try booting with your keyboard. Perhaps you could do this at a MS store if one is nearby.

Do you have Fast Startup enabled? That may help your boot time. Go to the old Control Panel (type control panel in search), then Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options. Then click "Choose what the power buttons do". Then "Change settings that are currently unavailable" and see below Shutdown settings, Turn on fast startup.
This may help your boot time, but I don't know if will affect the keyboard attached slowdown.

 

[Wayne Orwig]

I'll bet you can get the screen repair for a reasonable cost. I have a feeling that something goofy with the touch screen to confusing the boot process.
Nothing the back that up, I just suspect the is a connection there.

 

[sharpuser]

@eludlow,

See if the same thing happens when the keyboard is attached backwards.