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
    2016-12-23T04:22:36+00:00

    So frustrated.  I can't install the latest update, because the battery is no longer detected.  I have tried a refresh, re-image, Windows 10 install, the three finger salute and nothing works. 

    My $1500 devices new job.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-20T05:59:17+00:00

    How does this device go from 18% to dead within the five minutes it's allotted before sleeping?

    try turning off the option "On Battery Power, Stay connected to network while asleep"

    in All Settings, Power & Sleep

    and turn on , Save Me Power when device knows I am away

    that my help with battery power but won't solve problems if your "battery gauge" is not calibrated properly.  That is something MS claimed to fix with firmware, but many of us still have the problem.

    I already had both of those selected, but thanks for the recommendation. I guess it's still on MS to get their **** together...

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-12-20T02:15:19+00:00

    How does this device go from 18% to dead within the five minutes it's allotted before sleeping?

    try turning off the option "On Battery Power, Stay connected to network while asleep"

    in All Settings, Power & Sleep

    and turn on , Save Me Power when device knows I am away

    that my help with battery power but won't solve problems if your "battery gauge" is not calibrated properly.  That is something MS claimed to fix with firmware, but many of us still have the problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-12-19T06:12:53+00:00

    I bought the extended warranty with my SP3 and it has paid off unfortunately, I've had my SP3 replaced 5 times in two years and all due to a bad battery. I update my SP3 weekly so updates are not the issue and I even bought a new charger thinking that it might not be functioning properly. But still after about a couple weeks my battery life starts to drop. However, I take it in to Microsoft and they don't hesitate to give me a new one. That's great but I'm getting tired of having a inferior product and my extended warranty will end mid 2017. I have asked to trade it in for a SP4 but they basically offer me nothing for mine and that's no deal. When my warranty does end I'll go to the Ipad Pro which will do everything I do on my SP3, mainly sketching and browsing. I told Microsoft all this too. I would have thought that Microsoft would have been more willing to make me a satisfied customer instead of just handing me a new inferior product every time. How can I get Microsoft to do the right thing before the warranty ends? I'm assuming the SP4 is a better product without the battery issue. Thoughts and suggested are appreciated.

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