Surface RT "dead"/black screen after installing optional upgrade(s)

I am certain the issue is January 8, 2018—KB4056895 (Monthly Rollup).

(it likely has a conflict with KB3033055)

I did a clean reset, hid KB4056895, and installed ALL other updates (except Previews).  Surface RT is fine and there is ~15GB free space leftover.

Note that MS reports that KB4056895 causes some old machines to get "into an unbootable state after installing this KB."  Surface RT is not mentioned (and this black screen issue is not a boot problem), but maybe the KB4056895 problem is related.  Read details in KB4056895 support page.

I suggest skipping KB4056895 and waiting for the February Rollup.  Who dares try the February Rollup!?

Dear all,

I have finally solved the problem. There are two ways of solving it. I will explain both of them carefully.

PROBLEM: After the update of the system, the screen is black, only the cursor can be seen, and also the wifi icon on the left part of the screen, appearing and disappearing.

SOLUTION 1:

This solution works, I have tried it.

You have to start the system from the scratch and install all of the updates proposed but one: KB3033055. But pay attention: this update is proposed two different times: 

The first one, as a part of a very loooong list of updates; in this moment, it has to be accepted and installed, and no problem will happen.

Later, this update will be proposed in a short list of six optional updates. At this moment, you have to accept all the rest of the KBs, but not KB3033005. Since it is an option, you can simply skip it but not selecting it.

After installing all the updates but KB3033055, you have to restart the system and try to find more updates, which can be installed with no risk. I’m writing this comments on February 27th, and every update prior to today is OK but KB3033055. 

Now my system is ready, steady, smooth and functioning. Everything runs perfectly.

After updating everything but KB3033055, the system has 42 GB free (my table is a Surface RT 64 GB). Probably there will be more or less 15GB in Surfaces RT 32 GB.

Even though somebody stated that the February update solves the compatibility problem with KB3033055, I have tried to install KB3033055 AFTER February update and the black screen comes back again. Since I don’t need it, I won’t try it (maybe later, or in another life…!!). But I have been able to solve the problem without starting from the scratch again, instead of that I have followed this second solution that I will explain now.

SOLUTION 2:

Maybe you don’t want to start the system from the scratch. Or maybe you did it and later, without paying attention, you did install KB3033055 and the black screen problem reappears.

This solution is inspired by the solution proposed by the user called timpeq in this thread:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfwinrt-surfupdate/surface-rt64-update-kb3033055/6f38b3b1-82ff-4ef0-bcfa-4416c8ccf79f

(Timpeq replied on February 13, 2018. I have not been able to follow his instructions (maybe you will), but some of them have been useful.)

You have to follow these steps:

• Turn off the Surface by pressing the on/off button for some fifteen or twenty seconds.
• Once you are sure that the Surface is off, press the side button (reduce volumen), and, without releasing it, press the on/off button for one or two seconds. When the Surface logo appears, you have to release the volume button immediately.
• The Surface will start in a safe mode, and the “Wait” message can be read after the Surface logo. If not, turn it off and start again the process.
• Then, you have to go to the Command Promt (by this way: Troubleshoot, then Advanced, then Command Promt).
• The system will ask for the Bit Locker code. That code is a long code (8 numbers of 6 positions each, separated by “-“. Like xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx, obviously each x is a number. If you don’t have the code, you can get it in this url:

https://microsoft.com/recoverykey

• Please, note that you have to login with your Microsoft ID and password to get your Bit Locker code.
• Once you enter the Bit Locker code, you have to select your user (it will appear in your screen), and use your password.
• The Command Prompt will appear (you know, the classic black window with the prompt letter, which in my Surface is: X:>
• You have to write this command. Do it VERY CAREFULLY, taking into account that even blanks are important. Even though you see it here in two lines, everything must be written in only one line, without any space between "remove-" and "package": ".../remove-package /packagename...".

X:>dism /image:c:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_KB3033055~31bf3856ad364e35~arm~~6.3.1.19

• I don’t know if this command Works for all kind of Surfaces RT, but it is valid for Surface RT 64 GB.
• Important: For typing ~ , you have to press AltGr + 4, and then spacebar.
• Important: There is a blank space (spacebar) among \ and / in: “image:c:\ /remove-package”.
• The Surface will uninstall KB3033055. Wait until the percentage of uninstalling is 100%. It will take some minutes. Be patient, it looks like nothing is happening when it arrives to 99,5%, but you have to wait. Don’t touch anything and don’t restart.
• After the uninstallation (when the porcentaje gets to 100%), write “exit” and press enter:

X:>exit                        [and press enter]

• After that, you can continue with the start process. Your Surface will come back to life again. Like magic!!

I have tried both solutions on my SURFACE RT, and both of them work.

Good luck.

Álex Cerrollo

I had the same problem after installing KB3033055.  I successfully followed timpeq's advice (thank god) and now have a working RT again without going through the immense pain of resetting it.  I can confirm that KB3033055 was installed immediately prior to my Surface RT breaking. I reset it a while ago, got bored after going through the whole Searching for Updates forever issue, so was a bit behind with my updates when i went to use it today.  I also checked through the output from dism to see if KB4056895 was in there, intending to remove that instead and therefore retain the Start Menu, but it wasn't there.  So while KB3033055 is definitely part of the problem, it can't just be KB4056895 that triggers it to fail.

My only advice would be, never reset.

You can remove KB3033055 after getting the flickering wifi icon, no need to reset from scratch.  

 - Interrupt the boot process a couple times by holding down the power button to force windows into startup repair.

 - Open the command prompt from the menus. (Troubleshoot, Advanced, Command Prompt)

 - You will be prompted to enter username and password

 - At the command prompt type:

dism /image:c:\ /get-packages > c:\dism-output.txt

notepad c:\dism-output.txt

In notepad press ctrl-f and type 3033055, you should find the full name (In my case it was Package_for_KB3033055~31bf3856ad364e35~arm~~6.3.1.19)

Back to the command prompt, In my case I typed:

  dism /image:c:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_KB3033055~31bf3856ad364e35~arm~~6.3.1.19

  exit

From there you should be able to continue to Windows as normal.

Tried this several times and no joy.  Text file always had an error 1639 (I think) in it and no listing of KBs was present.  What a mess Microsoft can create and leave unattended.  It wasn't as if they didn't have a hand in both the hardware and software design.  They should've pulled the update if it had issues.  I had the Feb KB before I installed KB3033055 and it still resulted in the wifi icon issue.

Thanks anyway.