Start Menu Not Working -- Critical Error?

[charlesbell]

Hi everyone. I received my Surface Pro 4 M last night and was really happy with it until I downloaded the updates and had to restart it. After that, I received an error that the Start Menu does not work and it wants me to log out.

I did a search online and found a lot of other people with the same problem. I already tried the Safe Boot option without any luck. I do not have any extra software installed on it, so the AV issue is not present on it.

What other steps would everyone recommend I take before calling tech support and being on hold for an hour?

Thanks.

Charles

 

[someone2639]

If you've done nothing to the computer you can reinstall the OS.

 

[920Walker]

Not cool at all for a brand new 1st party device receiving auto updates.

 

[petestl]

Charles - I had this problem on an HP x360 laptop, but it was the same problem (I think it's a Windows 10 issue, not so much a surface issue). There is a bunch of info out there, I even did a reset, still no joy. I also made the mistake of following instructions in various forums (not all MS directed) and articles, but here's what worked for me (I can't post a link because I haven't had 10 posts yet, sorry):
Answer
KAKarthicka_R replied on August 23, 2015See post history
Microsoft Support Engineer
Hi Bob,
Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for your interest in Windows 10.
I suggest you to follow the below steps and check if it helps.
Open an Administrator CMD window. If you can?t find a way, use these steps:
Press CTRL+Shift+ESC to open Task Manager.
Click File > Run New Task
Make sure you have a check mark beside ?Create this task with administrative privileges?
Type CMD
Type the following commands at the CMD prompt:
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
sfc /scannnow
If the above commands both completed and show no remaining issues, run these commands:
powershell
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like "*SystemApps*"} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}


I would also suggest that you contact the MS Answer Desk. They helped me fix a related problem, and it seems like they jump on the windows 10 stuff (I chatted online with a tech). No charge or anything like that. If I had it to do over again, I'd go that route.

 

[charlesbell]

Thank you. I will try out your suggestion when I get home. I will post my results after it is fixed.

By the way, I am happy to report that outside of the start window option, the device looks and works perfectly. I'm actually really happy with the speed of the model M.

 

[narv]

So I found all of those steps and more and did them on my SP4 yesterday and it didn't resolve my issue. I actually get an "image is malformed" error when running the Powershell script.

 

[petestl]

Sorry to hear that Narv, I know that it is an issue that MS is aware of, and if you look back, people have been posting about it since August - I find that a little disappointing. I've also read that one of the fixes is creating a new user (more of a work-around than a real solution IMHO.)

I know that the instructions I saw, required no errors in the prior steps.

I'd try the microsoft answer desk, and do a chat - I was online with an agent in less than 2 minutes, and resolved in 10. Hope you get it worked out.

Pete

 

[narv]

Sorry to hear that Narv, I know that it is an issue that MS is aware of, and if you look back, people have been posting about it since August - I find that a little disappointing. I've also read that one of the fixes is creating a new user (more of a work-around than a real solution IMHO.)

I know that the instructions I saw, required no errors in the prior steps.

I'd try the microsoft answer desk, and do a chat - I was online with an agent in less than 2 minutes, and resolved in 10. Hope you get it worked out.

Pete

I'm going to try that when I get home, at work now. I saw the steps for a new user account but I can't seem to make a new user because my settings app wont launch.

 

[narv]

Chat seems to be down right now. Since I've tried everything that seems to be suggested (the powershell, dism and sfc fixes, as well as restarting explorer.exe) I am just resetting the whole thing. I found a way to do it without the settings app. I am resetting it from scratch (since I didn't install anything) but there were some other options in there as well to keep files.

from the lock screen: hold shift + hit power > restart.. it will restart at a blue screen. There are some troubleshoot steps available as well.

After 5 minutes I'm at 5% but it also jumped from 2 to 5 so we all know how %s really work in the computer world. This may overall take an hour or so. I'll let you guys know if it works after this (it should it's basically reinstalling what it came with, right?) here is hoping!

 

[charlesbell]

Update --

I've been with online tech support for an hour and so far no long. They tried to have me download new firmware, but the MS site eventually crashed and wouldn't let me get it.

Is it time for me to return the unit?

 

[narv]

Update --

I've been with online tech support for an hour and so far no long. They tried to have me download new firmware, but the MS site eventually crashed and wouldn't let me get it.

Is it time for me to return the unit?

Update -- Mine crashed during refresh and is now in a restart loop. I'm going to have to take it in to the store and try and get a replacement unit or a refund or something...

 

[narv]

Chatted this morning with the help desk people, here is my account this morning:

Sooo.. I understand that the MS Answer desk people are probably outsourced somewhere, and English is not their first language. I am 100% ok with that. But just because English isn't your first language, doesn't mean reading comprehension has to go out the window >.>

I have told the lady that I am in a restart loop and windows wont load. She keeps telling me to "create a new windows user by hitting windows key + R and typing netplwiz".. or asking me if I'm in tablet mode or desktop mode... I told her I'm in "my computer wont start up" mode.

Some things I might let slip like "did you preorder it in October?".. you know the ONLY month it was available.. or asking me if I'm using another computer or the affected device after I said the device wont load windows at all (so how can I be on it).. maybe she didn't think those through..

so then I got redirected to the "surface support department". which wasn't listed that I could see, though before redirecting me the lady told me that I may have a better time returning it basically and getting a new one. Too bad the store doesn't open until 10 AM and I have to be at work at 9 >.>

The surface support lady seemed overly confident that she could fix this.. "try this" -- "no? don't worry we can work on this". hmm ok.. We tried a bunch of different button combos which seemed all to do the same thing (turn the device off).

Had to download a recovery image. Downloaded and extracted. Instead of waiting on Chat the lady decided to call me instead and close that chat, probably so she could help someone else -- Metrics and all that I'm sure. Though I did have difficulty with her accent.

Put the drive in and restarted. She kept telling me to hit a combo of buttons and the blue screen would come up but it didn't so I just went into the UEFI screen and changed the boot order to USB first. This went much faster off the drive than when windows did it itself.

It came up with a note about changing the TPM. and to hit Ok or Cancel. the lady didn't seem to know what this was. But she said to hit "ok" after she was on hold for a bit so I assume she asked someone or looked in their KB or something.

Install went smoothly. Everything worked after it reinstalled windows 10. Things that didn't seem to work the first time (such as the store and getting my MS account to sync up) worked this time. She had me install the updates which made me wait with baited breath as this is what caused my downfall last time.

but in the end it all worked! after the restart and install everything worked perfectly. So after an hour and a half on the chat / phone we're all set! Now i'm only an hour late for work thank goodness I have an understanding boss...

hope this helps!

 

[charlesbell]

Update 2 --

I was online with tech support for 5 hours last night. They had me try just about everything including downloading another version of Windows 10 and installing that. After it was said and done, the computer still wouldn't work, so they have asked me to send it back. I'm supposed to get a new Surface in 7 to 10 days. :-(

 

[Arsenic17]

IF you order your surface from BEst Buy or Amazon, can you just got back and exchange it at Microsoft Store? OR get help there?

 

[Carlo Nalls]

IF you order your surface from BEst Buy or Amazon, can you just got back and exchange it at Microsoft Store? OR get help there?

Sigh.... Took me 2 hours just to manually connect to internet.. Now hoping all these updates get me to the point I was at on my pro 3.. Else I'm taking it back from my wife ☺