Surface Book Battery 1 Not Present

If you look at the picture I uploaded when I took apart the tablet portion of the surface book, I found that the screws which are responsible for holding the motherboard against the battery are not catching on the motherboard itself but some washers of smaller internal diameter than the motherboard holes which are soldered to the bottom of the motherboard. Here is a sketch: This means the only way to fix the problem is by disassembling the surface and resoldering the screw washers and taking care not to deform the device in any- way afterward. This is a poor engineering choice from microsoft especially on a device with a gap between the screen and the keyboard which means the screen is bound to bend inward when in a bag etc.  It is interesting that the iPhone 6 had similar flexion based damage, but it was the solder on the chipsets breaking loose from slight bends but not the board itself.

Important update: when ripping the device open to get the ssd out, I have found the cause to the problem (at least on my particular machine). It seems that there is a batch of devices with missing motherboard screws and fan screws, and the screw missing is conveniently responsible for keeping the battery connected to the motherboard. The screws for the fan is also missing, causing it to prop up and press against the display, causing a white pressure mark. This is atrocious quality control on Microsoft's part and I hope this never happens again. If a Microsoft representative could acknowledge this problem it will be greatly appreciated. 

Update: the water is actually deeper than I thought, not only is it missing a screw, the screws near the motherboard isn't actually holding anything down. And after prying the motherboard with a knife near the working screws it appears that it takes no force at all to pull the motherboard off through the screw head. This means my problem was not only caused by the missing screw, but it is also the deformation of the back panel which pulled the two remaining screws off the motherboard.

Another edit: after some more research I have found that the screws "missing" from the images is actually by design, and the metal standoffs are actually just for holding the battery and fan board in place. But, the problem persists where the motherboard screws are only held by a metal washer which is welded onto the back of the motherboard, which can snap off the board and render the screw useless and the motherboard free-floating, which is what I found when I opened the machine. From other teardowns I suspect the method has not been changed for the newer surface devices, meaning slight deformation can snap off the screws and might break the device. 

Hi Nethra,

We would need to try several steps to determine if this is hardware or sofware related. Based on the status of Battery 1, the Surface does not detect it. This could happen if the tablet is not properly attached to the keyboard. Kindly inspect the clipboard and check if the tablet is not firmly connected to the base. If it's not, carefully press the tablet into the base. If that does not help, force the device to shut down by pressing the power button for 10 seconds. Once the Surface is off, connect it to the PSU and let it charge for a little while. Try pressing the detach key and see if it will work. You can also try this in the UEFI environment. From an off state, press and hold the volume-up button then press and release the power button until you see the Surface logo. Once in the UEFI, press and hold the detach key. If you have successfully detached the Surface, disconnect the PSU and clean the connectors using a soft, cotton cloth wet with rubbing alcohol. After the pins and ports dry, you can reattach the device.

If none of the physical troubleshooting works, then let's look into the software side of the issue. Reconnect the PSU and open Device Manager (Windows key + X > Device Manager), then expand Batteries. Right-click on Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery and select Uninstall. Afterwards, run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit once again. It will get the updates and check other software issues. After running the tool, perform another forced shutdown. Restart the Surface then check if the Battery driver has been re-added in Device Manager, and if Battery 1 will finally be recognized by the system.

In case none of the solutions resolve the problem, please reply to this post. We will have to perform further troubleshooting. I will be notified when you reply and I'll get back to you the soonest I can.

Regards.

Hey guys, just want to give you an update about this issue. I had the same problem with my Surface Book for over 6 month and of course was out of the warranty. I live in London, UK and last week I found a computer repair store that agreed to open up my Surface Book tablet and it turned out that a cable connecting the tablet battery and the motherboard was damaged and after replacing it the tablet battery came back to life and now working perfectly again without an issue.

As Microsoft doesn't repair Surface Books I encourage all of you to find a good repair store where you live and try to have it repaired there. There's a good chance that most of you have problem with that cable. Unfortunately the Surfaces are very hard to open up/repair but it's definitely not impossible.

I have exactly the same issue. 2 3 weeks ago. No charging the battery of the base and now finally my battery is not appears anymore. 

The only way is to request a replacement  paying 700$, no way. 

What is going on? Its better to buy a used performance base one on ebay and at least I could get better gpu...

Really I dont know where I should ask assistance to fix it without having to pay a lot of money. 

I tryed rebooting, deleting drivers,...with no luck.