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
    2016-12-30T02:33:06+00:00

    I have done everything posted and everything MS has told e to.   The best that happens was that I went from 89% battery ware to 14.5% after I wiped the HD and installed a new iso of win10.   That was OK for  week or so but it eventually dropped back to 85% battery ware and 10 min use unplugged.   

    I gave up.   I sold it and bought a new Dell XPS13.   That makes two companies I will never buy hardware from: Apple and MS.

    I am don with this BS.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-29T23:44:12+00:00

    I wish replacement batteries were not a couple of hundred pounds but is seems like Microsoft has remedied the problem. By some miracle the battery life doubled, maybe Microsoft fudged the numbers or something, idk.

    To conserve battery life, I use Internet Explorer (surprisingly fluid and light) with the brightness pretty low and it's always in battery saver. I can get 6 hours this way, or 4 hours of video.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-12-26T14:29:51+00:00

    I wish some consumer protection group would go after them to recall the SP3 because Microsoft knows they have an issue with the battery. But I know that's just wishful thinking.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-12-26T05:29:24+00:00

    I had the same issueI also now have a $2500 mouse pad... Microsoft has offered me no help.. except to pay $450 to trade mine in for a refurbished one.. Unbelievable..

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