Solved Deleted ALL partitions on Surface Pro - Now I can't boot

[CZ Eddie]

Hi, I used Acronis to delete all partitions on my Surface Pro. So there is no recovery, C drive, nothing at all. Just a blank SSD drive without any partitions.
Now the Surface Pro refuses to boot to any of my USB sticks so I can clean install an OS like I wanted to do.

I've verified both of my USB sticks are bootable, as I'm able to boot my desktop computer to them in order to install an OS.
But when I try to boot the Surface Pro Gen1 to the USB stick, I get a quick squiggly screen and then I'm dumped right into the system BIOS.
I've made sure to power off the Surface Pro, then hold down volume- while pressing the power button, then releasing volume- after seeing the Surface splash screen. But it never goes to any sort of boot menu or anything. Just takes me right into the EFI BIOS.

Any suggestions?

 

[David Bailey]

Have you enabled Boot Menu in the BIOS ?

 

[theog]

In the UEFI/BIOS firmware is there a BOOTOVER option.
If yes

Boot USB drive in UEFI mode.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Thanks. But it's a Surface Pro Gen 1. The only BIOS options are: "trusted platform module enable/disable" and "secure boot control enable/disable". No other options are available in the system BIOS.

 

[David Bailey]

Does the manufacturer sell recovery disks ?

 

[theog]

I've verified both of my USB sticks are bootable,

Legacy bootable
or
UEFI bootable.

 

[theog]

Does the manufacturer sell recovery disks ?

MS is the OEM manufacturer.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Does the manufacturer sell recovery disks ?

Doesn't matter if I can't boot to anything.

I've verified both of my USB sticks are bootable,

Legacy bootable
or
UEFI bootable.

Good question and that might be the problem. I actually just kicked off a new USB burn using an app called "Rufus" which will make UEFI bootable USB.
Prior to that I used Microsoft's recommended "Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe". Which worked fine on my desktop.

Here is the Rufus walk-through I'm using now:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

 

[CZ Eddie]

Dangit, no creating the UEFI Bootable USB stick didn't give any different results. Ugh.

When I boot up using volume- option to get boot menu, you can see the USB stick flash a few times.
Then I get a sqiggly screen that blinks away after 1/8 of a second and it goes right into the EFI BIOS.

 

[theog]

Can the UEFI/BIOS firmware see the USB drive as a UEFI bootable device?

 

[broe23]

See this Reset or Refresh Windows 8 PC without Any Installation Media Otherwise your only choice is to contact the Surface Technical Team. Contact Microsoft Answer Desk for Surface

See if this will work, using the instructions on how to install Linux with Linux Live Boot USB How to install Ubuntu on the Surface Pro | Microsoft | Geek.com You can download a Bootable USB image through Tuxboot - About so that you can attempt to use Gpartd to format or even rescue the Windows image.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Can the UEFI/BIOS firmware see the USB drive as a UEFI bootable device?

Surface Pro EFI BIOS doesn't ever give an option as cool (and normal) as that.
Really wish I'd gone with a laptop instead of Surface Pro. It's so freakin limited.
It is a fast tablet though.

 

[theog]

Yes, not much in the UEFI/BIOS Firmware, just be watching a video on youtube.

Where do you buy your DVD/ISO & Full Windows 8 Product Key from?

 

[CZ Eddie]

Where do you buy your DVD/ISO & Full Windows 8 Product Key from?

I'm in IT and have my own MSDN account.
So I have keys to all versions of Windows OS and access to the ISO downloads.

 

[CZ Eddie]

See this Reset or Refresh Windows 8 PC without Any Installation Media Otherwise your only choice is to contact the Surface Technical Team. Contact Microsoft Answer Desk for Surface

See if this will work, using the instructions on how to install Linux with Linux Live Boot USB How to install Ubuntu on the Surface Pro | Microsoft | Geek.com You can download a Bootable USB image through Tuxboot - About so that you can attempt to use Gpartd to format or even rescue the Windows image.

Just noticed your post... I'll look at it on my next work break. Thanks for the links.

 

[theog]

Try re-downloading the Windows 8 Pro x64 ISO from your MSDN account.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Try re-downloading the Windows 8 Pro x64 ISO from your MSDN account.

Thanks. It's a good idea but I already ruled it out.
I can't boot to *any* bootable ISO media. I can't even boot to the Acronis bootable USB that I used to wipe my partitions in the first place.

 

[theog]

Did make the MS Surface Pro Recovery USB drive.
If YES.
Try booting that USB drive.


How to boot the MS Surface Pro Recovery USB drive.
Surface Pro Restore from USB recovery drive - YouTube

 

[CZ Eddie]

Well, my mistake. I tried booting to the Acronis boot media one more time and it did go through. Maybe the last time I didn't have the volume- button pressed properly.

So now I know bootable USB is still able to work on some level.
I guess I'll just keep trying different ways of building a Win8 bootable USB, even though the ones I've tried so far are working fine on my desktop.

Thanks everyone.

 

[theog]

tried so far are working fine on my desktop.

Is the desktop UEFI.

I'm in IT and have my own MSDN account.

Do you have a MSDaRT Windows 8 USB drive to boot from?