I'm interested to know what other users tend to see when running the "powercfg /sleepstudy" tool on their Surface Pro 3s (as per http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2014/06/26/sleep-study-diagnose-what-s-draining-your-battery-while-the-system-sleeps.aspx ). I'm finding that all my "InstantGo" sessions have a drain rate of between 1200 and 2200mW, which can correspond to between 10% and 20% of the battery drain in the 4 hours before the machine hibernates. Looking at the culprits, almost all the sessions show the following device running for the entire "sleep" period: USB xHCI Compliant Host Controller (\_SB.PCI0.XHC) Fx Device 100% 4:00:00 Is this expected? FWIW, I tend to leave the keyboard cover connected during sleep. Sometimes (when the drain is at the high end of the range), I also see the following: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (\_SB.PCI0.GFX0) Fx Device 100% 4:00:00 Interestingly, during the first few days I had the SP3, the graphics driver was appearing in every session of the sleep study report. More recently, though, it has stopped appearing. Recently I've been leaving the Surface at the start screen rather than the Desktop, so this may be related - is there a recommendation about coming out of the Desktop before going to "sleep" I also never see anything in the "DRIPS histogram" - should I? What are other people seeing? On a related note, does anyone know if there is a way of changing the time before the machine hibernates? For me, 2 hours (or even 1 hour) would probably be fine - if I'm actively going from one office to another, then the "instant" resume is great, but if I'm at home, leaving the machine for a while, then 4 hours is overkill.

I've had a Surface Pro 3 (i5, 256GB) since 1/22/15. When I first set it up it was sleeping like the proverbial baby, but as I installed more software I started having problems. After reading this thread and trying a few things I've got it working perfectly again. Like others, I was finding that the USB xHCI controller was the main culprit, staying at 100% the entire time, but I was also seeing what seemed like excessive activity on the MARVELL AVASTAR wireless controller and the drive controller. I found that two apparently unrelated factors were causing my problems: The Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client. When installed, the AnyConnect client installs a service called "vpnagent (Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Agent)" and also sets the "Cisco AnyConnect User Interface" for automatic startup. There is no option during installation or in the user interface to disable automatic startup. Interestingly, the service doesn't seem to cause any problems, but leaving the user interface running, even without the VPN connected, will keep the machine from going into the lowest power mode. You can disable the user interface from starting automatically in Task Manager. Bluetooth. This was the more significant factor. A few days after I got my surface I paired it with my cellular iPad to use the iPad as a wireless hotspot. This works great and doing it over Bluetooth consumes a lot less power, but what I've discovered is that disconnecting from the Personal Area Network on the Windows side does not shut down the connection itself, and that as long as that connection is active the USB xHCI controller will stay at 100%. If I break the connection by shutting off Bluetooth on either device, it will reconnect when I put the Surface on AC power. So, my recommendation would be to try shutting off any Bluetooth devices you have the Surface paired with except the pen. I have been leaving Bluetooth on on the Surface and keeping it off on my iPad so that the On-with-pen/OneNote function will continue to work. Hope this helps somebody.

It seems the Skype thing is finally fixed after the last firmware update. (January one). I made a couple of video calls and put it to sleep multiple times, and I haven't seen the USB xHCI thing being red and only lost 2% of battery over a 4 hour sleep.

OK, well when you put it like that, it does sound like it's the USB controller. Though it's strange that it doesn't appear to be the root cause for everyone. After raising the issue with Microsoft, I was told it was a known issue from last year, but they never rolled a firmware update out then due to stability concerns. They have told me that they are now releasing it Jan 13th-14th this year. So I guess we'll wait and see. That would be awesome! fingers crossed.

OK, well when you put it like that, it does sound like it's the USB controller. Though it's strange that it doesn't appear to be the root cause for everyone. After raising the issue with Microsoft, I was told it was a known issue from last year, but they never rolled a firmware update out then due to stability concerns. They have told me that they are now releasing it Jan 13th-14th this year. So I guess we'll wait and see.

around 98% in LPS during a normal sleep. if the usb xHCI error occored, then 0% in LPS.

What should "sleepstudy" show for a Surface Pro 3

Anonymous

I'm interested to know what other users tend to see when running the "powercfg /sleepstudy" tool on their Surface Pro 3s (as per http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2014/06/26/sleep-study-diagnose-what-s-draining-your-battery-while-the-system-sleeps.aspx).

I'm finding that all my "InstantGo" sessions have a drain rate of between 1200 and 2200mW, which can correspond to between 10% and 20% of the battery drain in the 4 hours before the machine hibernates.

Looking at the culprits, almost all the sessions show the following device running for the entire "sleep" period:

USB xHCI Compliant Host Controller (\_SB.PCI0.XHC)	Fx Device	100%	4:00:00

Is this expected? FWIW, I tend to leave the keyboard cover connected during sleep.

Sometimes (when the drain is at the high end of the range), I also see the following:

Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (\_SB.PCI0.GFX0)	Fx Device	100%	4:00:00

Interestingly, during the first few days I had the SP3, the graphics driver was appearing in every session of the sleep study report. More recently, though, it has stopped appearing. Recently I've been leaving the Surface at the start screen rather than the Desktop, so this may be related - is there a recommendation about coming out of the Desktop before going to "sleep"

I also never see anything in the "DRIPS histogram" - should I?

What are other people seeing?

On a related note, does anyone know if there is a way of changing the time before the machine hibernates? For me, 2 hours (or even 1 hour) would probably be fine - if I'm actively going from one office to another, then the "instant" resume is great, but if I'm at home, leaving the machine for a while, then 4 hours is overkill.

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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82 answers

Anonymous

2015-02-02T19:24:39+00:00
I've had a Surface Pro 3 (i5, 256GB) since 1/22/15. When I first set it up it was sleeping like the proverbial baby, but as I installed more software I started having problems. After reading this thread and trying a few things I've got it working perfectly again. Like others, I was finding that the USB xHCI controller was the main culprit, staying at 100% the entire time, but I was also seeing what seemed like excessive activity on the MARVELL AVASTAR wireless controller and the drive controller.

I found that two apparently unrelated factors were causing my problems:
1. The Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client. When installed, the AnyConnect client installs a service called "vpnagent (Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Agent)" and also sets the "Cisco AnyConnect User Interface" for automatic startup. There is no option during installation or in the user interface to disable automatic startup. Interestingly, the service doesn't seem to cause any problems, but leaving the user interface running, even without the VPN connected, will keep the machine from going into the lowest power mode. You can disable the user interface from starting automatically in Task Manager.
2. Bluetooth. This was the more significant factor. A few days after I got my surface I paired it with my cellular iPad to use the iPad as a wireless hotspot. This works great and doing it over Bluetooth consumes a lot less power, but what I've discovered is that disconnecting from the Personal Area Network on the Windows side does not shut down the connection itself, and that as long as that connection is active the USB xHCI controller will stay at 100%. If I break the connection by shutting off Bluetooth on either device, it will reconnect when I put the Surface on AC power. So, my recommendation would be to try shutting off any Bluetooth devices you have the Surface paired with except the pen. I have been leaving Bluetooth on on the Surface and keeping it off on my iPad so that the On-with-pen/OneNote function will continue to work.
Hope this helps somebody.
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Anonymous

2015-01-19T18:58:52+00:00

It seems the Skype thing is finally fixed after the last firmware update. (January one). I made a couple of video calls and put it to sleep multiple times, and I haven't seen the USB xHCI thing being red and only lost 2% of battery over a 4 hour sleep.
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Anonymous

2015-01-04T22:52:16+00:00

OK, well when you put it like that, it does sound like it's the USB controller. Though it's strange that it doesn't appear to be the root cause for everyone.

After raising the issue with Microsoft, I was told it was a known issue from last year, but they never rolled a firmware update out then due to stability concerns. They have told me that they are now releasing it Jan 13th-14th this year.

So I guess we'll wait and see.

That would be awesome! fingers crossed.
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Anonymous

2015-01-02T14:36:01+00:00

OK, well when you put it like that, it does sound like it's the USB controller. Though it's strange that it doesn't appear to be the root cause for everyone.

After raising the issue with Microsoft, I was told it was a known issue from last year, but they never rolled a firmware update out then due to stability concerns. They have told me that they are now releasing it Jan 13th-14th this year.

So I guess we'll wait and see.
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Anonymous

2015-01-02T00:59:48+00:00

around 98% in LPS during a normal sleep. if the usb xHCI error occored, then 0% in LPS.
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