My Journey with Windows

Reflecting on my past with Windows, I have quite a history. As a teenager, I enjoyed building my own computers, overclocking graphics cards, and squeezing every last MHz out of poorly installed Pentiums. While I occasionally gamed on those machines, I primarily dealt with frustration. I would estimate that my Windows experience was 10% enjoyable and 90% exasperating.

Fast forward two decades, and the situation remains unchanged.

"Mark... the laptop isn’t functioning."

My girlfriend, who has no real interest in technology, treats it much like our toaster — it simply needs to work. That's why I handed her the Surface Laptop 4 for a school project. She's accustomed to Windows at her workplace, so any attempts to showcase the advantages of macOS and my fantastic M1 MacBook Air would likely be futile.

The second video titled "I'm REALLY starting to HATE Windows 11..." captures the growing dissatisfaction among users as they encounter issues with the latest version of Windows.

The Incident

Everything proceeded smoothly until one unfortunate evening.

"Mark... the laptop isn’t functioning."

Those dreaded words triggered a flood of memories I had buried deep within. I recognized that this cry for help was related to a Windows laptop, and it had been two decades since I had to navigate any problems on that platform.

I had hoped that the troubling days of PC building were behind me. I thought I would never confront another blue screen. Safe Mode, the BIOS, and command prompts felt like relics of the past, and I believed I would be free from the bizarre and frustrating technical issues that once plagued my existence.

Yet here we are, back to square one.

My Attempts to Resolve It

The situation was dire. I realized this when Jen informed me that she had been happily working on a Word document when the Surface Laptop 4 unexpectedly shut down. Now, it wouldn’t boot up. It would attempt to start, but after a fleeting glimpse of the Windows logo, the laptop would beep and revert to a black screen. If left plugged in, it would continue this cycle indefinitely.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts. It’s going to be alright, I reassured myself. You can handle this, Mark.

Safe Mode — perhaps it still exists?

Well, sort of. The more immediate challenge was accessing the Surface Laptop’s repair options screen. Achieving this required a convoluted sequence of power button presses, akin to Morse code. It took me around 43 attempts before I finally succeeded.

I was then greeted by a series of options on that all-too-familiar blue screen: boot from a USB, internal storage, or a PXE network.

Three main issues emerged:

1. I didn’t have a USB stick or any idea what to put on it.
2. The laptop's SSD, the only internal storage available, refused to boot into Windows.
3. I had no clue what a PXE network even was.

Fortunately, there were additional options available. Under the 'Troubleshoot' menu, I found 'Reset this PC.' It appeared I could choose to keep my files and merely reset the operating system, or wipe everything and start anew.

Finally, a glimmer of hope. After selecting the 'reset everything' option, I was given the choice between a cloud download of Windows or a local reinstall. Knowing the latter would lead me back into the PXE network conundrum, I opted for the cloud. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work either.

“Try the local reinstall option,” the laptop suggested unhelpfully.

With my patience wearing thin, I revisited the troubleshooting menu and noticed an 'Advanced' button. Clicking it presented me with six options: Start-up repair, Start-up settings, Command prompt, Uninstall updates, UEFI firmware settings, and System restore. They all sounded intriguing, but none yielded any results.

Actually, I must admit that both the command prompt and UEFI firmware settings did function, but they left me with two additional dilemmas: I had no clue what to do with the command prompt, nor did I understand the UEFI firmware settings screen.

In short, this laptop was ‘borked,’ as the young folks say. That incessant boot loop seemed impossible to resolve without locating a USB drive containing Windows.

A Familiar Feeling

It's clear that my Surface Laptop can be repaired. Since that fateful day weeks ago, I've learned how to create a USB Windows recovery disk; I just need to find the time, energy, and motivation to bring it back to life.

However, the time spent facing that dismal blue screen — and the reason for having to face it in the first place — dragged me back two decades. Nothing has changed. When something goes wrong with a Windows computer, you’re thrust into a hellish ordeal trying to fix it.

Tech jargon (why should I be expected to know what ‘UEFI’ means?) and seemingly helpful buttons that lead to nothing but error messages don’t contribute to a positive DIY repair experience.

I don’t believe my Surface Laptop is fundamentally flawed. I’m fairly certain that Windows simply needs a reinstall. That’s understandable — these issues happen. But why must it be so incredibly difficult to reinstall the operating system?

This frustration is compounded by the fact that this problem arose on a Windows laptop manufactured by Microsoft. Surely, that should provide it the best chance of functioning correctly?

In contrast, my Macs (all five of them) are… well, actually (and I know this is tempting fate), they rarely encounter such issues. In fact, I can’t recall the last time I needed to reinstall or reset macOS. It just doesn’t occur.

A Potential Solution

There was, however, one option left for my Surface Laptop that didn’t involve any Windows complications.

Let’s convert it into a Chromebook! During a recent episode of "Eight or Sixteen," my co-host Rob suggested that I could transform the almost-dead Surface Laptop 4 into a Chromebook. This can be accomplished through Google’s innovative Chrome OS Flex project, aimed at turning old PCs and Macs into Chromebooks.

To do this, you download an installer to a USB stick, insert it into your old laptop, and witness Chrome OS magically appear on the screen. If everything goes smoothly and you enjoy the experience, you can opt for a permanent installation of Chrome OS.

I found this idea incredibly exciting. However, the Chrome OS Flex installer failed to work on my Surface Laptop 4. Naturally.

Looking Ahead

I haven't completely given up on Windows; I intend to stick with my plan to broaden my horizons this year, I promise. However, the moment the next Windows laptop I use throws me a blue screen, boot loops, or beeps at me, I will immediately install Chrome OS on it. If it works, that is. Which it probably won’t.

Oh, and by the way, my girlfriend is now happily using the M1 MacBook Air.

Before You Go

Join my behind-the-scenes mailing list! If you appreciate my writing, it’s merely a glimpse of what I share on Medium. I’m a paying member myself and highly recommend joining. Click here to join (a portion of your membership fee will support my work directly!).