Surface RT updated last night, now won't boot... worried about data loss

[yalden]

Guys,

I've not posted on here for some time, mostly because I've been contempt with my purchase and haven't had any issues or queries. I've been using the Surface for work, photo processing and web browsing, without any troubles - until now.

As I logged in last night it prompted that the tablet would restart in 2 days to finalise an update, instead I decided to restart it immediately. However, once it rebooted it was VERY sluggish and eventually ground to a hault on the metro interface. After a few minutes I realised I would have to force shutdown, which I did. Now it won't boot beyond the 'Surface' text that appears when you first power-on.

It doesn't reach the recovery stage or USB-boot stage.

I've spoken with MS and they're suggesting an exchange, but my concern is the loss of my photos. I have originals on my SD card but I've processed hundreds of photos using various apps and I really don't want to lose that.

Is there any other suggestion that anyone can offer? I'm disappointed that an MS update seems to have destroyed my tablet and worser still, that MS aren't willing to attempt any form of repair/recovery with my device.

if this is the service I can expect from MS, I'm sad to say that a replacement will be great for one thing only - to sell on.

 

[ArnoldC]

I updated last night, and like you, did a restart. Everything turned out fine.

If you have your originals on the SD card, did you mean the processed photos were saved on the internal storage?

There are options to refresh without data loss. Try that.

 

[yalden]

I only have the original photos, so I'll be losing several hours of processing, categorising etc. My surface doesn't get far enough in to the boot sequence to enable the 'boot manager' thingy, so I can't choose between refresh, reset etc. It looks like a replacement is on the cards, which is a great shame.

 

[tonyz3]

are you close to an MS store- bring it to them and let them to correct it. i was in there the other day looking around at xbox stuff with my son and over heard a lady with a similar issue getting great help from the MS tech in store help and seemed to fix it. I do remember him doing something with a usb drive. I was only half listening bc i did not want to look like i was in her business.

 

[yalden]

No MS stores in the UK sadly.

I will try the boot option, despite being lead to believe it's not going to work - it's worth a shot.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I do hope you are able to work things out. And, yes, it sucks that there are no MS stores in the UK. Today, I went to Curry's/ PC World looking for a Touch Cover and one of the sales associates insisted that what I was looking for was a keyboard for an iPad despite my showing her the Surface RT that I was carrying in my hand! I almost bashed my head into the nearest wall out of frustration! If MS wants to play the consumer game, they better get their damn act together on their stores front!

 

[jnjroach]

Try pressing the Volume Rocker Up while pressing the Power Button and see if it boots past the Surface Splash Screen. That should get you into the Recovery Tools.

 

[yalden]

Try pressing the Volume Rocker Up while pressing the Power Button and see if it boots past the Surface Splash Screen. That should get you into the Recovery Tools.

If I hold the vol. up it won't turn on at all, if I hold the vol. down then it just pops up with the 'Surface' logo and stays there forever... this is all the more frustrating as I now realise that I didn't keep all the originals on my SD Card, so everything is lost if I can't recover the tablet... this seems so frustrating, when I know that MS could surely recover it if it wasn't easier for them to simply exchange the item.

 

[jnjroach]

Sorry, I meant Volume Down and Power, it takes a bit so keep holding until it is uncomfortable...and it should come to recovery (as long as the SSD is still functioning). If the SSD went then it a replacement I'm afraid.

 

[ArnoldC]

Use Recuva on your SD card, that you used in your camera, to recover the photos, if they have been deleted.

 

[Omni]

I had this issue with the first RT I had. Got slower and slower then eventually stopped. If I left it long enough it did catch up and would work ok again. I exchanged it before it stopped working completely. At the time it seemed to be the solid state memory card at fault because there were many errors in the logs. If it is that I doubt you need worry about your data. I also doubt it was the recent updates that caused it.