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Surface RT No longer starts after latest update

KLM

New Member
I picked a surface up for my wife Christmas 2012 . She has barely used it. I thought I'd update and get some use out of it on some business travel since it has just been sitting almost the whole time we've owned it. Anyway I saw an update a couple weeks ago and did it. Afterwards performance was pretty bad. Yesterday there was another update saying it needed restarted. After this latest update the thing won't even turn on.

Anyone else have a similar experience or any ideas on a fix? Microsoft was worthless. Warranty is up by 2.5 weeks. I figured as much. Seems pretty lame however they push an update that kills the tablet. This thing is barely used. They offered $200 for another RT... That was hilarious. Working tech support for Microsoft has to be one of the worst jobs in the world.

Anyway long story short I know Microsoft is notorious for extremely poor customer service and releasing products with a large defect rate but the idea of these things is kinda cool. I'm not a big Apple person but I can't really justify buying any more MS hardware if this thing dies after a handful of uses.

I have tried all of the listed fixes. Boot off of USB/hard reset etc. Going out on a limb hoping there is something else.
 
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FFX

Active Member
Funny there where no updates released for the Surface RT yesterday, and why even mention Apple here? I can find you 100s on threads about people having problems with Apple ipad, macbook or iphone updates and hardware. I call shenanigans. Otherwise, try charging it, let it charge. Then while charging try holding down the Power ON button for 5 seconds. If that wont work try holding down volume down button + Power ON button.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
I picked a surface up for my wife Christmas 2012 . She has barely used it. I thought I'd update and get some use out of it on some business travel since it has just been sitting almost the whole time we've owned it. Anyway I saw an update a couple weeks ago and did it. Afterwards performance was pretty bad. Yesterday there was another update saying it needed restarted. After this latest update the thing won't even turn on.

Anyone else have a similar experience or any ideas on a fix? Microsoft was worthless. Warranty is up by 2.5 weeks. I figured as much. Seems pretty lame however they push an update that kills the tablet. This thing is barely used. They offered $200 for another RT... That was hilarious. Working tech support for Microsoft has to be one of the worst jobs in the world.

Anyway long story short I know Microsoft is notorious for extremely poor customer service and releasing products with a large defect rate but the idea of these things is kinda cool. I'm not a big Apple person but I can't really justify buying any more MS hardware if this thing dies after a handful of uses.

I have tried all of the listed fixes. Boot off of USB/hard reset etc. Going out on a limb hoping there is something else.

Plug it in, Hold the volume rocker down and press the power button quickly, in about a second or two you should see the Surface logo.
 
OP
K

KLM

New Member
No shenanigans just a dead surface.

I have tried holding the volume down. I tried booting from USB. I also tried the hard reset.

Basically it comes to the black screen and typically the little circle below the word surface will spin. Now I get nothing.

I have no clue when the update was pushed. I don't use it often and when I opened up it said it needed to restart.

The tech seemed to think the update failed and bricked the device.

I was hoping maybe someone knew a way to wipe the drive and get it going again.
 
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TheCudder

Member
I could have sworn the Surface RT included a standard 2 year limited hardware warranty. I know I had my Surface RT replaced under warranty in December 2013, and I pre-ordered mine and received it on release day of October 2012. I'd recommend letting it sit out and let the battery drain --- tough being that it won't turn on, so maybe leave it in a cold car over night? That always seems to drain my battery (when i forget to bring it in of course).
 
OP
K

KLM

New Member
I could have sworn the Surface RT included a standard 2 year limited hardware warranty. I know I had my Surface RT replaced under warranty in December 2013, and I pre-ordered mine and received it on release day of October 2012. I'd recommend letting it sit out and let the battery drain --- tough being that it won't turn on, so maybe leave it in a cold car over night? That always seems to drain my battery (when i forget to bring it in of course).

Unfortunately it is only a 1 year warranty and I'm a couple weeks out. I looked thru this forum and it looks like others had the same problems. From some other stuff online it sounds pretty common for the ssd to die. Its unfortunate as I loose all of my data and a device I've only used a handful of times.
 

TheCudder

Member
Unfortunately it is only a 1 year warranty and I'm a couple weeks out. I looked thru this forum and it looks like others had the same problems. From some other stuff online it sounds pretty common for the ssd to die. Its unfortunate as I loose all of my data and a device I've only used a handful of times.

Did the support tech (I chatted) not mention receiving a replacement? Like my original reply stated, I received a replacement at no cost after 14 months of ownership, which would put me 2 months out of warranty. I had an issue with phantom touch input being received on my screen.
 
OP
K

KLM

New Member
Did the support tech (I chatted) not mention receiving a replacement? Like my original reply stated, I received a replacement at no cost after 14 months of ownership, which would put me 2 months out of warranty. I had an issue with phantom touch input being received on my screen.

He stated I was out of warranty and all he could do was offer a replacement for $200.00. That was tough to stomach. No way I'm paying 200$ more for the outdated version that only lasts a handful of uses.

That actually makes it worse hearing that some techs respond differently.

Maybe I'll have my wife try again and see if she can get a different response.
 
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Omni

Active Member
You could try draining the battery to nothing then giving it a full charge. Worth a try.
 

sleith001

Member
This post is highly suspicious from the way he talks, not from what he said. Quite typical for a troll. These are people who are paid to do this.
 

bluegrass

Well-Known Member
I'd take it to the MS store in your area and have their techs look at. They've been very responsive for me. I'd also like you to explain how in the heck you tried booting it from USB. I've never heard anyone on this forum mention that you could do that. If that is a legitimate way to boot a Surface, then wouldn't that rule out a bad SSD? I'm going to Google right now "how do you boot a Surface from a USB device.

Well I guess you can boot from USB. Here is the steps right from Microsoft.
Start from a bootable USB device when Surface is off

Step 1: Attach a bootable USB device to the USB port.
Step 2: Press and hold the volume-down (–) rocker.
Step 3: Press and release the power button.
Step 4: When the Surface logo appears, release the volume rocker. Surface will start the software on your USB device.

I have to ask since you were smart enough to create a bootable image of your Surface, did you test it after you created it to see if you could boot from it?
 
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