Forum Discussion
Surface Laptop Studio (1) No Surface monitor driver
Surface Laptop Studio/Win 10 Pro upgraded to Win 11 Pro/Iris Xe graphics
Event History:
I Use 2 monitors, Surface screen and external. One day my I noticed my Surface went blank. Device manager showed no Surface Monitor Driver, and display was Iris Xe.
Microsoft support chat: had me download and install a new .msi file - problem solved.
3 days later, same problem. (on boot the Win icon showed up on my external monitor and not the Surface screen). So, I re-ran the .msi file. This time BOTH screens went blank. after many failed Shift+Power and Volume Up+Power reboots, I gave up. The next morning I tried again and Wa-La! the external monitor showed up.
This time Device manager showed Display Adapter as Microsoft Basic Display Adapter (not the Iris Xe, and NO Surface driver. Only the external monitor driver.
I contacted MS support again - they linked me to a different .msi file. I was hesitant to run it, but I did . . and Poof! No more monitors at all.
During this time I could hear Win boot system sound, so I new I as at the PIN screen. I could hit Space +my PIN but I couldn't see anything. I even tried WinKey+Shift+Ctrl+B to reset the display, to no avail.
I continued many Shift+Power and Volume Up+Power attempts. Nothing helped. I finally gave up and waited several hours. Tried again, and Wa-La, the external monitor is now back! (I haven't shut it down since!) Device manager/Display is MBDA and still NO Surface monitor driver.
I have run the Surface Diagnostic and it shows I need to install the Iris Xe, but it won't install. It says "failed" and try again. I'm guessing I have a hardware issue either with loose cables, or bad graphics card? Which ever, I'm afraid of it now.
I used Macrium Reflect to build an image of my C: drive (really don't want to re-install all my software).
I have purchased a newer Surface Laptop Studio 2. It is supposed to come with Win 11 Pro
Question:
If I restore my image to the new device:
- will it restore the failed graphics driver?
- will it restore MY version of Win 11 Pro (with proper Product Key/Activation Key/PIN etc)?
- Should I keep the newer Win 11 Pro and all associated drivers and just re-install all my software? (I have all my files on an external USB)
Please advise . . .
3 Replies
I started playing with it again today, and using an external monitor, found there were several updates. One was an Intel Driver update. I ran them all, took several restarts, but after it was all said and done BOTH MONITORS NOW WORK. Windows 11 does recognize the Surface Calibrated Panel, and Iris Xe driver is installed. I don't know how long this will last, but right now it seems to have been fixed.
Update: I continue to work off of the external monitor. HOWEVER, I had a Windows update notification. I was hesitant because I knew it would require a restart (possibly losing my monitors again). But, I did it anyway . . . . and after Restart, my surface monitor began to work, but it didn't even recognize my 2nd monitor. I again tried the Iris Xe update, but it still failed. It also didn't recognize my USB-C port. So, I did another restart and, both monitors went blank!
Well I did the Vol up+power/Shift+power multiple more times and finally my 2nd monitor came back up. Again with the MBDA. The Iris Xe update continues to fail . . .
All this began about the time of the "Cosmic Radiation" event! I think it affected my Surface Laptop Studio Display Adapter! Why won't it accept the update?
I see several people have read this, but no one seems to have an answer. I finally got the Iris Xe driver installed, but still Win11 won't recognize my onboard monitor. External monitor works great. I have the latest Win11 version installed, I have backlight on my internal monitor and the touch screen works perfect. I took it apart an disconnect/reconnected all the monitor cables to the MoBo, but that didn't help.
I believe the monitor itself is good because it has worked at times.
Does anyone know how to test the monitor?
