Surface Pro 3 battery degradation

Anonymous
2016-05-11T07:37:37+00:00

I've been using Microsoft Surface Pro 3 for a year, and shortly after the warranty expired I noticed my Surface Pro 3 can only last about 1-2 hours after a full charge. At first I thought this was a problem with background process draining the battery so I disabled everything running in the background. It didn't helped. Then I found out about the powercfg utility and run powercfg /batteryreport on it, and this was the result:

A full charge capacity has degraded by over 80% in just few weeks and continue degrading. I tried to "recalibrate" the battery by doing full charge then full drain multiple times, and it didn't helped. Talk with Microsoft via chat support and they insist this was a software problem and reinstalled the driver and asked me to wait few days to see if things improve. Not only it didn't improved, but now my Surface can only last 30 minutes.

Few days after chat (today), I called Microsoft support and they were being extremely unhelpful. Insist that this was a software problem (which the chat support person already did) and it's "perfectly normal" for battery capacity to degrade. I insist that I've already done the software "fixes" and it didn't work and tell them this is definitely hardware problem, but the person on the phone tell me there's nothing I could do except to order the out of warranty exchange (which cost about $560 in my local currency). 

Is there anything else I should do? My country has no Microsoft Store which I could take the machine for them to take a look. Phone/online support were the only option, and none of them could understand the issue.

Surface | Surface Pro | Power and battery

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Anonymous
2016-07-26T21:31:16+00:00

Hello everyone,

Thanks for your continued patience here. We have now completed our testing of the update and it has passed our quality assurance process.

The update, “System Firmware Update - 8/29/2016”, is now available to install from Windows Update.

Before installing this update, ensure that your Surface Pro 3 is plugged directly in to AC power using the standard AC power adapter (do not use the Surface Docking Station), disconnect any USB devices or external monitors, and check that Windows shows a 40% charge or greater when you hover over the icon in the taskbar before you begin.

Once you install the update, please select Restart now (do not shutdown). After your Surface restarts, please manually restart it a second time to complete the process. For more information, please see our Surface Pro 3 Battery FAQ article.

If you’re having trouble charging your Surface, you get a low-battery error, or your Surface turns off when you unplug it, the steps in our Surface battery won’t charge article can help you pinpoint the problem. Should you need any further assistance, please contact us. 

Thanks again.

Greg

Updated 8/29/16.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T11:10:26+00:00

    I've mentioned multiple times that I have a LGC battery and was not impacted.

    I've said nothing about servicing my own battery. In fact I've told folks that

    the batteries are not user replaceable and I've mentioned that MS committed to a

    $200 replacement program on Reddit but charges $450 and won't respond to

    comments on the Reddit thread.

    And when I've told people to go to a MS Store over THIS issue, it was coupled

    with only if they could get a free replacement. In most cases, BTW, if you need

    a replacement, it IS better to go to a store and check out the replacement

    there, given the reports of bad refurbs coming from the online exchange process.

    But, of course, you are entitled to your opinion.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T10:51:43+00:00

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T10:40:38+00:00

    I wasn't able to stop the auto update and was docked on the docking station when it asked for a restart. I restarted and then just read now that it was suggested that I was plugged in and not on docking. What can I do now? 

    That suggestion is for those that could not run under load through the dock so if you hadn't reached that point and the update installed successfully (check Windows Update history to see if it succeeded) then you're fine.  The reason it was suggested to use the power supply, not the dock, was to prevent the SP3 powering off during the update (for some of us that was a real risk as we only had around 5 seconds of run time on battery).

    Anyone who is struggling with an SP3 that won't even power on now this is what I did to get the update installed:

    I used the power supply, not the dock, then I turned on my SP3 holding down the power & volume up physical buttons and then released only the power button (keeping volume up pressed) when Surface logo appeared.  That should open the UEFI/BIOS screen & that is how I left it for 10-15 minutes to "charge". Then I used Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart the SP3 and waited for Windows to start.  If I recall correctly it registered about 20% charged at that point and continued to "charge" until it was above the 40% at which point I could install the update.

    Remember to restart again after the update has installed (you should see the white progress bar below the Surface logo since this is a firmware update NOT a Windows Update) to allow the new driver to fully take affect.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T05:52:47+00:00

    Also... after this issue, I think a lot more people will keep checking their battery wear so MS better got it right this time. And I truly hope this wasn't a controlled battery degradation going out of control.

    Guys - do you know how to get a simple reading of screen on time while using battery? I know the report has a breakdown in a table in the different power states, but can't believe there is no way of checking how long I have been on battery with the screen on since the last charge.

    Thanks,

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