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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 . . .
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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?
