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Repair manuals and information for Microsoft's Surface Studio all-in-1 desktops.

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Why is the screen of my Microsoft Surface Studio not working anymore?

The screen of my Microsoft Surface Studio (1st generation) suddenly has turned black and does not work anymore. The computer itself works, because if I connect a monitor to the mini-display port, I can see Windows and the system is functioning fine. This way, I discovered that the internal screen is not recognized by the Nvidia card. However, I can still authenticate with Windows Hello, use touch to move the mouse, use the camera, play sounds and see that the backlight is working. The only problem is that the screen stays black. I have tried to forcefully shut down the computer several times (by pressing the power button for 10 seconds), start in BIOS mode (by pressing volume up and powering on), tilting the computer, changing the position of the screen, etc. - nothing works. Clearly, something is broken - but what?. Is there anybody who can give me some ideas what might be wrong and where to start looking? The warranty has already expired.

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The same problem here tried all the usual uninstall and install drivers and a fresh W10 install stopping and starting services etc. I fear it may be an internal fault as still no t-screen even when booted in the UEFI screen. I do not want to pay MS prices to repair it. I can live without it but would be nice to get the full functionality back provided its not going to cost a fortune after paying over 4 grand for the top model I'm not happy that its gone a bot pair shaped a little over 2years old so sadly not under warrenty I would certainly never by another now which is a shame as when working fully such a lovely machine to work with I have a smaller surface pro x now which does the job though I much prefer my Studio with the large tilt screen. Thanks for any suggestions forthcoming for anything I can try before I have to bite the bulllet and sent it to a repair person once the Covid nonsense calms down amd places are open again.

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I solved the issue with my Surface Studio and now realize that I should have shared my findings sooner. It turned out that a connector was loose. To find this, I opened the computer on the bottom, following the iFixit video (starts at 0:29), removed the midframe, fans, SSD, heatsink, HDD and power supply and verified if the connectors from the screen to the main board were properly fitted. This seemed to be the case, but I disconnected and connected again to be sure. Then I removed the plastic cover on the backside of the screen to verify the connections on the other end of the cable. After carefully removing the plastic (2:22 in the video), I was able to locate the connectors and it looked that one of them was not properly attached any more. After disconnecting and reconnecting all connectors, the screen worked again. Please note that I did not open the display and I did not remove the zero-gravity hinge! My Surface has been working flawlessly since then. I hope this helps!

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@hanskraamer I am having the same issue. I can remove the plastic to the back of the display I have no idea what is the connectors you are talking about. Could you please help me with this.

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@hanskraamer Nevermind, I have managed to find the loosen connector and plug it in. Thanks so so much for the guide. This really save my day.

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Sorry, I was not able to respond sooner. But I am very happy to hear that it helped somebody!

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Dam, had mine in pieces yesterday to upgrade the drives one to an M.2 card and a 1TB SSD Drive has improved the speed if I had seen this before would have had a go at it not taking it apart again if I need a touchscreen I can just link it up to my surface pro x but I can live without it for now everything else is working fine now before we put the new drives in its was not detecting one of the drives now it sees both plus I was trying to reinstall windows before as well but the setup kept freezing halfway through have reinstalled windows on the M.2 Card and using th SSD to store my programs working OK now

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@hanskraamer Hey, can you please tell me how to remove the plastic cover from the hinge? TIA!

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Try holding the Vol + button and then hold the power button down for about 10 seconds. This should hard reset the computer. If this doesn’t work then check to see if the display backlight is out by shining a light on the display and look for icons and words. If it is still blank then the display may be faulty. You can check with Microsoft to see if it is in warranty at https://Mybusinessservice.surface.com.

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I tried both. Rebooting with vol+ works in the sense that the computer shuts down and starts again after a while, but not showing anything on the screen. The backlight works, but shining with a light is not helping - the screen is black. I am interester to know what can cause these symptoms. The warranty is expired.

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The display or the graphics adapter can cause this problem, by using an external monitor you have proven that the graphics adapter is good. That leads to the display or the video cable.

One thing to try is to check to see if the display shows in Device Manager and try to update the driver. Check Unknown devices and any display with a yellow triangle on it.

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Thank you again for your reply. I also did that and there are no triangle-marked devices in device manager, nor is the device found if searched for. I don"t think it is a driver issue,, because the BIOS is also not showing. It must be hardware. Checking the cable does not seem to be straightforward, but I can try. Would a broken or loose cable be something that is likely? I have found nobody with this complaint online yet, so I cannot verify.

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The video cable tends to be placed where it does not move except in laptops where the video cable crosses over from the system board through the hinges to the display. In laptops the cable can fail due to movements but mostly engineered to be more sturdy. For monitors, the cable does not flex or move very much and is less likely to fail compared to laptops. It is worth checking for damage because after that the problem would be the display.

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Thank you for your answer. I have checked the cable and it is OK. I fear that the problem is somewhere inside the display. Can you recommend me a most-likely order in which I should check the components inside the display? Are there any common problems known that occur in this screen?

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Hans Kraamer will be eternally grateful.
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