Surface 3 charging issues

Anonymous

I'm sure the Surface 2 and other models suffered from this problem...

After getting my Surface 3 yesterday, I plugged it in as it was delivered with about 24% batter life. The little white light on the micro-USB charger than comes with the Surface lit up. I assumed all was well, and started the Windows Updates. It was taking a while so I left it and went to bed.

The next morning the Surface was off, and when I tried to switch it on the battery symbol appeared that indicates it had no juice. It was still plugged in to the charger and the plug was still lit.

I removed it a couple of times and eventually it must have started to charge as it allowed me to boot, and I could see it was charging.

However, whenever I plug it into any other USB port to charge it (such as on my PC), I get the "Plugged in, not charging" message).

I suspect a faulty micro-USB connector (a poor replacement for the old magnetic ones), but wanted to see if anyone elese was having trouble with either the supplied charger or charging from other USB ports.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

MA_905,

Thanks for the update and sorry for the delay in following up.

I am reaching out to find out if your issue is now resolved and if not, I would like for you to please give the two button shutdown a try.

Here’s how:

Step 1:	Press and hold the power button on your Surface for 30 seconds and then release it.
Step 2:	Press and hold the volume-up button and the power button at the same time for at least 15 seconds and then release both. <br> <br><br>The screen may flash the Surface logo, but continue holding the buttons down for at least 15 seconds.
Step 3:	After you release the buttons, wait 10 seconds.
Step 4:	Press and release the power button to turn your Surface back on.

Once done, please proceed to fully charge the device and let us know your outcome.

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Anonymous

what's more likely is that the USB ports that you've used can't provide enough power to charge the device.

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Barb Bowman 80,810 MVP Volunteer Moderator

On Wed, 22 Jul 2015 16:31:18 +0000, quadtek wrote:

>> This is a surface 3, not a pro3

take a look at

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/surface-wont-turn-on#shutdown

this applies to your Surface 3

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barb

Windows Experience MVP

My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

Please mark as answered if this answers your question

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Barb Bowman 80,810 MVP Volunteer Moderator

did you try the solutions at https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/surface-wont-turn-on-battery-wont-charge?os=windows-10 ?

If yes, your best option is to go to a physical retail Microsoft Store if you are near one in the US, and if not near a store https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/contact-us

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Anonymous

I contacted MS and they helped me in this one. I had to do a current update. when this did not fix it I had to a a factory reset. then do the update battery life is now as expected.

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337 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-10-27T19:54:57+00:00

Hello,

I have to second this. Although until recently I did not have a problem with the official surface 3 charger + cable, I did note similar complaints by others as well as the common inability to charge the surface with regular phone chargers. I did a study with some combinations of chargers, USB cables and power sources, and came to the findings as published in the last/lowest entry of Surface 3 Charging issues, page 4. My main conclusion is that the minimum threshold voltage at which the surface accepts a charging operation is too high and maybe even too close to the charger's voltage, as my experiments show that even a small voltage drop across the usb cable between charger and surface leads to trouble.

Lately I am running more and more into charging issues with my official charger as well. The official micro-usb connector is of low quality and begins to show wear signs (the charging led is flickering very often now at the slightest movement) and as a consequence the famous "connected, not charging" message starts to show up now as well, in just half a year. Maybe a slightly increasing restistance at the connector is causing a voltage drop causing the issue. The surface 3 is a very nice computer but the powering solution it now has devalues it. Hopefully the issue can be solved in firmware.

BR,

Jurjen
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