Surface Book Performance Base - Crashing following MS Update

I can confirm the symptoms you describe - because I had the very same experience.

Surface Book kept on crashing after the firmware update. Mostly multicolor cross hatch pattern, sometimes bluescreens with random stopcodes (I guess I now have seen them all) and in very rare occasions freezing screen. The record was 30+ crashes on a single day.

I mean this can happen, no piece of software is totally error-free, but support was not very helpful if you asked me. They captured 20h of my precious time with ever repeating same questions (I had contact to 9 support agents, as I fell out of conversations due to crashes and have been reconnected to a different agent) and ever repeating same tests (like checking for windows update, even when the machine just rebooted three minutes ago), querying windows versions and running different diagnostic tests (surface diagnostic too, memory test, ...).

Even when I multiple times mentioned, that I assume the problem is due to a bad firmware upgrade and referred to this very forum post, they kept on executing their checklist with checking for os and hardware issues.

In the end, they got the reboot problem kind of "solved", because now my Surface Book is not booting anymore, after trying to reset windows, during which my Surface Book crashed again. :-(

This was past Wednesday, past Monday my replacement arrived - and doing good so far (even when I did not succeed from preventing installing firmware upgrades as well).

My Surface Book with Performance Base experienced the same crash and restart issues described in this thread immediately after this January firmware update. Sometimes the video cuts out right after boot up or within 5 minutes. Other times the machine would freeze, other times it would freeze with a multicolor cross hatch pattern, and sometimes it would just restart and show an error message citing different reasons for the crash after collecting information (with an unhappy face). Uninstalling updates, and reinstalling firmware manually did not help. Some of the software updates always failed to install as well. The system would not complete a restore, or a reset without failing. After 3 times, a "restore image from cloud worked" but the new Windows image did not resolve the crashing issue which sounds like the problem is firmware related. It did make it happen less often though. The MS diagnostic tool did not identify a problem and after running it, the edge on the settings panel disappeared. I suspect that the firmware update somehow corrupted the video system. After the problem occurred, I could not get video updates to load without failing or update the video drivers successfully. After trying all the same steps outlined in this thread the machine is going back to MS for repair. I don't know if this problem was induced by the Intel Spectre / Meltdown Patch (I read Intel is receiving reports of crashes) or if this is a coincidental hardware failure, but I'm not happy about returning this machine for service because from what I read, MS doesn't repair and return your new $2,500 machine. They instead replace it with somebody else's busted and refurbished equipment. Sony uses the same repair depot process for its equipment and I have had bad experiences in the past with bad hardware being recycled back to me. Hopefully, MS does a better job at its repair depot.

I feel for ya.  My system isn't as critical, I do use it for work (IT Consulting/tech)  but for a while it can be replaced with my Windows Phone  I rarely contact MS Support but this system is still in warranty and I felt compelled to notify them that the firmware update may be bad.  

What irritates me is that they prefer to inconvenience the customer with 2-4 weeks of loss by replacing the system rather than actually looking into the issue even when I was willing to work with it.  Going through 5 different techs I found each one basically relies on a script rather than skill to troubleshoot, and they send out the same inaccurate instructions for various things.  It's hard to tell whether to follow my own skill or do as they say.  So here's what I've found so far and the path I took after I gave up on support and had them arrange for replacement.  

MS Support basically did this:

surface diagnostics kit - found no issues (every tech ran this despite my telling them it was a waste of time)

"in place upgrade"  - did not fix issues

reinstalled the Nvidia GTX driver (one of the Firmware updates) because one of the BSODs was a video driver issue.

installed SurfaceBook_Win10_16299_1801000_0.msi firmware/drivers, did not fix issues

removed all updates listed to have been installed after 1/10 - no fix

perform a system refresh/reset (on board reinstall) this made matters worse, and I warned the tech it would.  with the new firmware installed and old software/drivers I lost use of most apps, edge, event viewer, control panel, action center and many more.

The tech then sent instructions on building a USB Image reinstall disk.  The instructions were wrong and they were flummoxed when I contacted them while it was running and the choices didn't match their script.

at this point they gave up and I allowed him/her to arrange a replacement.

Then I did this:

installed the oldest firmware: SurfaceBook_Win10_15063_1801000_2.msi

From here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49497

I then created a USB Reinstall disk with the "Create a recovery drive" app and this image: SurfaceBook_BMR_15_10.17.0  (this worked correctly)

At this point the system returned to normal, though way behind in updates which I am allowing now.

System crashes continued making updates near to impossible, I have given up trying to fix this and am sending it back on warranty.

BTW, you can look at your Version info (UEFI firmware ver. and such with the "Surface" app.)

Good luck

Following Windows refresh, followed up with SurfaceBook_Win10_16299_1710000_0.msi (last known "good" firmware).  I'm not convinced this actually updated the firmware (I haven't booted to UEFI to check the actual firmware in use), but I have noticed that the system is notably more stable.

"More" being the key word here - it's still crashing to black screen every few hours, but this is a considerable improvement over the ~15minutes previously (some times I couldn't even complete login from boot).  It means I can actually get some work done while I'm traveling.

However, this is not an acceptable solution (I'm dreading it crashing in the middle of a client presentation) so will kick off the official support process which may result in a system replacement if it's the same issue as yours.

Image update failed as well, it appears no way to revert back to original firmware and they want to replace the system since it is under warranty.  Not impressed Microsoft