Surface Book Battery 1 Not Present

For anyone with this issue, I advise you to find a independent 3rd party repair centre with a good reputation to re-solder the motherboard screw washers and replace the batteries while you're at it. This is the only option to fix the problem (other than a out-of-warranty exchange). I have confirmed with staff of Microsoft Store London that all the units they replace (in or out of warranty) will be brand new machines made specifically for the purpose of warranty replacement, despite the T&C claiming that refurbished machines could be sent. You can check this by viewing the battery health and SSD power on time, used units will have a lower battery full charge capacity than designed capacity and more than a few hours of SSD power on time.

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 am having a problem with my surface book clipboard too, battery 1 0% and wont charge. 

Do you replace the battery? Or just replacing the damaged cable?

Thanks for your reply

Very interesting.  Wouldn't it be nice if the computer were serviceable, because it sounds like an easy fix, if we could get inside.  Thanks for the insight.

I am having the same issue it happened around the time when everyone else had it and my particular device might have had the issue due to a whole night of baking the CPU for some Premiere Pro project but in my opinion, it might just because the battery is expanded which if you look at the iFixit teardown you will understand. I personally think this is a design choice. They could have easily gone with a lego connector but instead implemented a press connection which should automatically disconnect the battery when it expands which prevents further damage (crack screen, explosion) to the device if an expanded battery is continuously used without replacement. Shame Microsoft does not offer a replacement for our batteries. The theory of the tablet heating up the glue and loosening the connection is possible but it would not have caused any connection issues nor can possibly help the batteries to expand (as far as my i7 processor takes me only the bottom half of the tablet is heating up while the battery is glued on the top portion) and pretty much all batteries in these type of devices are glued onto the back of the machine so therefore without any bias opinions toward Microsoft I think it is not their problem that the batteries are disconnecting (as far as I know they might be doing us a big favour, lipo batteries expanding is very dangerous) but it is their fault that they do not have a battery replacement option. I used to live in China, therefore, I can easily take the device with me next time I go to China for third party replacement (they do that quite cheaply and professionally in China) but I am not sure about where you all live. Right now in the UK I cannot find any third party battery replacement service available to the public for the surface devices, but ordering a official eBay battery and paying a serviceman who repairs other devices, especially iPads, to install it for you might be a better option so good luck everyone trying to get a replacement battery. Remember whatever you do, do not, DO NOT try to replace the tablet portion battery (battery 1) on your own unless you're trained, you risk breaking the glass. The keyboard portion battery is user replaceable if you have some basic repair equipment. Watch iFixit videos.

Thank you for providing an update. We would have to further check if this is a software issue or if you would need to get a replacement due to a hardware issue. The next step we can perform is to reset the Surface using a recovery image. It will eliminate software factors that could be resulting to this problem. To proceed, please go here and download a recovery image. Remember to back up your files before resetting the Surface since this step will remove the files that are currently stored on your device.

After resetting the Surface with a recovery image, check if Battery 1 will be present and if the tablet part will charge when attached to the base. If there are no changes, please contact Microsoft Support or take the Surface to a Microsoft Store. The unit may need to be replaced because of a hardware problem.

Kindly reply with your findings so I'll be able to help you further.

Thank you.