Surface book: April 2020 firmware updates bricked my device

Anonymous
2020-05-21T22:11:24+00:00

This morning my surface book downloaded some firmware updates and asked for me to restart my device.

(Here's the details on the update: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4023488/surface-surface-book-update-history )

However, after the first restart, I find that the surface book is in a constant restart state. I cannot even force it to shut down or boot the UEFI menu.

This is exactly what it does:

Every 10 seconds or so, it will turn on, show me the "Surface" boot logo, and after 1 second immediately turns off. It does not even reach any Windows boot up sequence.

I found the following topic which advised doing a few steps but nothing works: 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-book-stuck-in-continuous-restarting-loop/91bc5782-aabf-4555-847a-05b92c88da6d

Could I please get some advice on what to do or how to fix this?

Thank you

Update: Seems the common factor between everyone who is having the issue is that the secure boot is disabled (I.e. there is a 'red strip' shown with an unlock icon being shown). 

Update 2: I have been told my Microsoft that they believe the fault has nothing to do with them. The high number of people who are in this thread with the exact same issue clearly shows that the fault is NOT ours. We are now looking to take legal action as this forced firmware update caused damage to our devices, for which we require compensation from Microsoft (a fix or a replacement free of charge).

For taking legal action and making complaints follow this link:https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/legal/arbitration/EU-ODR.aspx

Surface | Surface Book | Install and update

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-19T15:30:03+00:00

    Hi everyone,

    Did anyone manage to get the file that needs to be flashed into the chip? and if so, is it possible/feasible to flash it?

    I have a Surface Laptop 1st gen with the same problem.

    Thanks in advance

    I don't think anyone has really had any luck with this. 

    I wouldn't recommend trying it - from personal experience, this is difficult to do without breaking other components while trying to flash the chip. And so far, anyone who has risked it has not been able to reprogram the chip

    You could possibly try finding a local repair shop with experience in doing this? Not sure if local places know how to do this sort of stuff, but could work.

    Unfortunately Microsoft are not taking this problem seriously...

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-19T17:06:59+00:00

    Thanks for your suggestion, 'cause I was willing to tear my laptop apart if it was worth a shot, but as you say, it is not that easy to do and it is not 100% sure it works afterwards.

    Thank you for the suggestions.

    Microsoft didn't handle this thing at all according to this forum thread.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-01T10:08:53+00:00

    Hi, everybody!!

    Today is a happy day!I have done it !! The corrupted UEFI is stored in the battery. To get the Surface to start up normally again, you have to drain it. I achieved this by mounting a little device so that it would press the power button continuously.

    You do not have to disconnect it even if the logo stops appearing, that is, even if the screen turns black, because there is still residual battery, enough to recharge the  corrupt UEFI chip. I left it 5 or 6 more hours after black screen.

    In my case it was the update KB4586781.
    They have reported problems with this update on many websites, which is already becoming quite common with all of them.

    The good part is that it starts with the updates and again you access all your data.!!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-02-12T14:05:55+00:00

    Hi, everybody!!

    Today is a happy day!I have done it !! The corrupted UEFI is stored in the battery. To get the Surface to start up normally again, you have to drain it. I achieved this by mounting a little device so that it would press the power button continuously.

    You do not have to disconnect it even if the logo stops appearing, that is, even if the screen turns black, because there is still residual battery, enough to recharge the  corrupt UEFI chip. I left it 5 or 6 more hours after black screen.

    In my case it was the update KB4586781.
    They have reported problems with this update on many websites, which is already becoming quite common with all of them.

    The good part is that it starts with the updates and again you access all your data.!!!

    Can anyone else confirm? I'm pretty sure I tried this before butchering my device to get at the eufi chip, so I can't try this myself.

    But would be nice to know if this works for anyone else - I can edit the topic to provide this as a solution for anyone else continuing to have this problem.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-02-12T14:28:29+00:00

    hello there rt-xd, nice seeing you still hunting after a solution.

    i'm pretty sure i have had taped my power button to the pressed position overnight and it didn't solve the issue.

    i'm willing to try again, however.

    uefi being stored in the battery (as in: accumulator/battery pack) smells like **** tho. what he means is probably equivalent to clearing cmos on desktop computers, which is a fair possibility.

    that said, iirc someone disconnected the battery from the mainboard entirely (which should clear cmos pretty much instantly, since there is no backup battery on the surfacebook's mainboard) and still didn't have any luck.

    it also depends on the kind of corruption: on desktop PCs, bad settings stored on the eeprom might get you into a device not being able to boot. our issue is, however, not bad setting but a *failed eeprom flash*, as i understand it. clearing cmos wont help here cause the default settings are already faulty.

    tl;dr: taping my surface power button shut =P

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