Reset Win10 on Surface 3 result in blue screen

[Red River]

My Surface 3 was upgraded to Win 10 yesterday. It worked very well until I decided to do a clean reset today.

After reboot the Surface 3 turned into blue screen with error message "inaccessible boot device". Then it entered a restart loop.

I created an UEFI USB drive through Rufus 2.2 with just downloaded Win 10 ISO. However the USB drive did not work. It could not save the Surface from the restart loop. The Surface still went into the blue screen.

I have check the UEFI of the Surface. It is network --> USB --> SSD. Totally have no idea how to solve the problem.

 

[ttsoldier]

You are saying you performed a clean install with the iso and still experienced the reboot loop AFTER the install completed?

 

[lbp775]

Same thing happened to me this morning. Now I'm stuck in the loop.

*update* I was able to restore my Surface back to win 8.1. I'm in the process of setting up Win 10 again. Guys, don't forget to create a backup before upgrading!

 

[Red River]

Same thing happened to me this morning. Now I'm stuck in the loop.

*update* I was able to restore my Surface back to win 8.1. I'm in the process of setting up Win 10 again. Guys, don't forget to create a backup before upgrading!

It's great to know that. I do have a win8.1 backup. How did you get out of the restart loop?

 

[Red River]

You are saying you performed a clean install with the iso and still experienced the reboot loop AFTER the install completed?

No, I did a reset with the 2nd or 3rd option to delete all programme and setting. I couldn't do a clean install from ISO because I couldn't get out the restart loop even boot with a UEFI USB stick.

 

[ChemEngr]

Happened here to my 8-yr old Dell laptop. I'm an insider and my laptop was running perfectly fine. Win10 gave new life to this old machine. I was stoked! Stoked and anal enough to go ahead and hard reset so I can have a squeaky clean PC. I opted for the full reset with format (can't remember the exact prompt). Now I have the restart loop to blue error screen "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE." So I would advise people to stay away from hard reset for now, at least the disk format part anyway.

Back to installing win 7 I suppose. Just as well, I was on 32bit OS and want to install 64bit. Reminds me of Sheldon getting ready to rebuild his OS. Good times!

 

[K3NCentral]

I have exactly the same issue after performing a clean reset after the win10 update. Any advice? I stupidly deleted my win8.1 backup while creating a media for my yoga 13...

 

[michail71]

I've reset mine several times without issue. Do you have a MS store near you? They may be busy but they did offer to help with the upgrades.

 

[ttsoldier]

No, I did a reset with the 2nd or 3rd option to delete all programme and setting. I couldn't do a clean install from ISO because I couldn't get out the restart loop even boot with a UEFI USB stick.

This is impossible. Booting with USB stick is before the os even loads.... Once the computer powers on press f12(or whatever it is on your laptop to get to the bootmenu) and select usb drive.

if your computer is restarting at the BIOS screen, then the problem is not the software.

 

[michail71]

Are you sure the USB drive is bootable?

 

[anon(9312357)]

I just had the exact same issue. Upgraded to Windows 10 and it was working perfectly fine. Just tonight I did the reset and now I keep getting the same error message inaccessible boot device. It just keeps repeating and repeating on me.

 

[anon(9312357)]

I just had the exact same issue. Upgraded to Windows 10 and it was working perfectly fine. Just tonight I did the reset and now I keep getting the same error message inaccessible boot device. It just keeps repeating and repeating on me.

 

[michail71]

Which reset option did you use?

 

[Red River]

I've solved the problem.

I created an Win8 USB recovery drive following the instructions on the MS website (the previous one didn't work probably because it was formatted in NTFS). The Surface 3 could be booted from the USB recovery drive. Firstly I tried the reset options but the process was interrupted when it was reset to about 65%. I had tried several times but all the same results.

It's lucky I still kept a copy of Win8.1 backup image. Then I tried to recover from the image and it was successful. Finally got Win8.1 restored on my Surface 3. After that, I upgraded it to Win10. Then I did a reset in Win10 with the "keep my files" option. It run ok this time.

The only problem now is that the Surface Hub cannot connect to the pen.

 

[michail71]

I've solved the problem.

I created an Win8 USB recovery drive following the instructions on the MS website (the previous one didn't work probably because it was formatted in NTFS). The Surface 3 could be booted from the USB recovery drive. Firstly I tried the reset options but the process was interrupted when it was reset to about 65%. I had tried several times but all the same results.

It's lucky I still kept a copy of Win8.1 backup image. Then I tried to recover from the image and it was successful. Finally got Win8.1 restored on my Surface 3. After that, I upgraded it to Win10. Then I did a reset in Win10 with the "keep my files" option. It run ok this time.

The only problem now is that the Surface Hub cannot connect to the pen.

Everyone is having the problem with the Surface app and the pen. Also, the pen can only open the new and highly neutered OneNote app and not the desktop version of OneNote. These are bugs so it should get fixed soon.

I did the same Reset PC on mine but didn't experience any issues. It's interesting to see how the app list differs between shipped and fully reset. The AT&T app comes either way but many of the other apps differed. Also, the free Office 365 goes away so anyone doing this should make sure they redeem that first.

 

[AbAll87]

So I was able to fix it! I had the same issue but on an Asus k53e... About 4 years old...

Step 1 make sure your USB is plug in

Step 2 while it's booting, I pressed F2 to go to the bios system...

Step 3 I went to the boot menu and from there I chose the USB has the number one option to boot. I did that by going on hard drive....

Step 4 save and it should restart and force the USB to go to the install thing...

When you are installing, press custom option which should be the second one...

Edit post: don't worry about putting your activation key, I keep pressing skip and it activated by itself

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[TechAbstract]

If you guys don't have a recovery image or Windows 8 image from Microsoft didn't work (in my case with Surface 3). Nothing worked for me even with Secure Boot disabled.

1. First create a Windows 10 Home x64 USB installation drive (https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...Fsoftware-download%2Fwindows10&token=P4KZD1m_)
2. Insert it to Surface 3.
3. Make sure the Surface 3 is turned off. Press and hold the volume down button.
4. Turn on Surface 3. Release the Volume down button when you see the Surface logo appears.
5. Select Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Command Prompt.
6. Type in "D:" and enter on keyboard. Type in "setup" and enter again to start Windows 10 installation.

Surface 3 drivers
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...ad%2Fdetails.aspx%3Fid%3D49040&token=s9cT-fTM

 

[etphoto]

Happened to mine as well. My S3 is only a couple weeks old so I just took it to the MS store and they just handed me a brand new one no questions asked. The new one had W10 pre installed.

 

[eusty]

Yup this happened on my SP3 as well. A clean install after creating a W10 USB was the only way around it.

 

[cygnus11]

So, the only way to reset the Surface 3 after a Windows 10 upgrade is using W10 USB media? That's kinda crazy, isn't it?

I just tried to reset using the settings option and it resulted in the blue screen that everyone else is experiencing. However, I was lucky in that it rebooted and was able to actually rollback to the previous state.

I then noticed using Disk Management that the 5.27 GB Recovery Partition is empty. Did the W10 upgrade remove the recovery data? If so, that is really bad IMO. That means that the built in system reset options in the settings will never work for our Surfaces after a windows 10 upgrade.