Repeated BSOD after firmware update - Surface pro 3, Windows 10

Anonymous

Hey everyone

There was a firmware update for the SP3 I just did and my device now seems completely bricked. When I boot it, I instantaneously get a BSOD with one of those two messages : kernel security check failure or driver unloaded without cancelling pending operations.

The BSOD tells me I have to use a win10 device to boot it from, but when I tell the BIOS to boot with my USB win10 key, it doesn't and keeps telling that the OS can't boot and to use a win10 disc (no CD reader on the SP3). Nothing I've tried works so far.

I've had my sp3 for just over a year and I really liked it before windows 10, and I really hope I can get it fixed.

Thanks for your help,

Émile

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Anonymous

MODERATOR EDIT (10/5/2015): Steps listed here previously are now updated to the following. If you receive a blue screen error after installing the 9/29/2015 Surface Firmware Update please start at step 1 to address.

Step 1 – System Restore Point

1. Boot Surface using USB recovery media. If you do not have recovery media you can download from here: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/downloadablerecoveryimage. Once you have recovery media proceed to next steps. Note: The USB drive must be formatted to FAT32 (not NTFS) in order to work correctly.

2. Press and hold the volume-down button while you press and release the power button. When the Surface logo appears release the volume-down button.

3. When prompted select the language and keyboard layout you want.

4. Select Troubleshoot, then Advanced Options, followed by selecting System Restore then select the target operating system.

5. In System Restore, click Next.

6. Click on a system restore point that was prior to applying the System Firmware update. Please use a restore point 9/28 or earlier.

7. Click Next.

8. Click Finish.

9. Click Yes when asked if you want to continue.

10. After moving to an earlier restore point you should boot into Windows.

If you were able to restore to an earlier restore point you should now be able to use your Surface again, no additional steps are needed. If you were not able restore to an earlier restore point or you did not have a restore point then continue to step 2 below.

Step 2 – Safe Mode

1. Boot Surface using USB recovery media by pressing and holding the volume-down button while you press and release the power button. When the Surface logo appears release the volume-down button.

2. When prompted select the language and keyboard layout you want.

3. Select Troubleshoot, then Advanced Options, followed by selecting Command Prompt.

4. Type the following command in the command prompt and then press enter:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes

5. Type the following command in the command prompt and then press enter.

exit

6. Press Turn off your PC.

7. Press the power button on Surface to turn it on.

8. Press F8 when the Windows Boot Manager screen comes up to go to Startup Settings.

9. Press “4” to enable Safe Mode.

10. Surface may do disk checking as well as perform a scan and repair. Surface will then restart. If Surface does not do this and instead boots into Safe Mode, go to step 13.

11. Press F8 when the Windows Boot Manager screen comes up to go to Startup Settings.

12. Press “4” to enable Safe Mode.

13. Surface will start in Safe Mode. Sign into Surface. Press the Windows Start Menu, press Power and select Restart.

14. Press Enter when the Windows Boot Manager screen comes up to boot into Windows 10.

15. Surface will start normally. Sign into Surface. Right-click the Windows Start Menu and click Command Prompt (Admin).

16. Click Yes to allow this app to make changes.

17. Type the following command in the command prompt and then press enter.

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu no

18. Press the Windows Start Menu, press Power and select Restart.

If you are now able to boot into Windows you should now be able to use your Surface again, no additional steps are needed. If you were not able to boot into Windows then continue to step 3 below.

Step 3 – Reset Surface to factory settings

1. Follow the steps in the article below to boot Surface using USB recovery media and reset Surface back to factory settings: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/usbrecovery

Please let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Josh

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187 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-10-02T19:39:37+00:00

[FYI, your thread has been moved from the Win10 Update & Recovery forum to the Surface Pro 3/Using Win10 on Surface-specific forum.]

it sounds like [the behavior was caused by] the firmware [update], has that been fixed?

AFAIK, it hasn't been fixed yet - but there may be a workaround.

At this point, it looks like your best bet would be reading ALL (yes, ALL) 170 & counting posts in this thread - concentrating on my colleage Barb Bowman's posts

~~- and then seeing if the instructions in Josh-F's~~ Answer post (top of Page 1) resolves your problem =>https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro3-surfusingwin10/repeated-bsod-after-firmware-update-surface-pro-3/529a1da2-3657-43f9-9af1-81c183650ce4
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Anonymous

2015-10-02T18:47:37+00:00

The broken windows 10 apps/store issue happened when I had a bad 2nd system restore also. I re-ran the system restore from within windows again (same restore point), and it completed without any errors. That resulted in all the apps being fixed.

I assume, due to the system restore error, it restored everything except some of the the app store and apps.

I tried running the restore again from inside Windows. It also failed but gave me an error message that indicated it was unable to restore files that appear to be associated with one of my Store apps. I don't have the exact error message on hand, but it has happened now no matter which restore point I choose although the specific apps tends to vary.

After all this, I tried to do a refresh using the USB recovery drive, but I'm presented with a useless message informing me that it can't be done without any further reasoning.

Pretty frustrated at this point.
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Anonymous

2015-10-02T18:42:07+00:00

EDIT: 10/3/2015 Don't do this.

I was told, as I’m sure Josh was (see official Answer), that downloading and installing the 9.29 MSI file would fix people who had broken situations. Clearly this is not working. So don’t do it. You can use System Restore. This update should NOT come down from Windows Update again (or so I have been told).

For folks with issues who have been able to successfully get Windows to start and who have done a system restore and don't have the 9/29 update installed - can you go tohttp://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38826 and download and runSurfacePro3_Win10_150929_1.msi -

~~Please post results. And if you've blocked device driver updates, after this is successfully installed, you can unblock them.~~
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Anonymous

2015-10-02T17:37:55+00:00

But how did you get to Command Prompt and what are "legacy Advanced Boot Options"?

Thanks!

I think you can find my steps -- and caveats -- on page 4 of this thread, and I think Barb referenced them on page 9. I'm a little confused because I think my initial thread has been merged with other threads a couple of different times since I started it -- please look for my earlier posts that described the specific symptoms my SP3 experienced with the problematic firmware update to see if that's what you're seeing. Also, please keep in mind that what worked for me was before the engineers were working on the issue and there may be better ways to resolve the issue now.

Please note that I downloaded the Recovery image specifically for my SP3 from this link rather than using something generic for Windows 10:

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/downloadablerecoveryimage

I don't know if that's a meaningful difference, but since that's what worked for me, I wanted to emphasize it.

FWIW, my SP3 has worked flawlessly since I got past the BSOD from the problematic firmware update, and my system shows the problematic firmware as installed, so I don't have the concerns some (rightly, IMHO) have about bricking the SP3 again when/if the problematic firmware update tries to install again.

Best of luck!
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