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
    2016-08-24T14:40:20+00:00

    I've ready every post in this thread.

    Microsoft believes that the afflicted devices should boot with the power supply that is sold WITH the SP3. (No one should need to buy an additional adapter to get to the point of being able to make a regedit.

    If a customer confirms they can't boot with the regular power supply, my intention is to email a contact at Microsoft with this information.

    With respect to the below, with respect to bricked units that won't boot either in the dock or on the SP3 power supplies, please read the prior posts, one by me, that verify that a SP4 charger will reboot a bricked unit and allow modification of the registry that then allows throttling the processor to 65%.  The unit then works on the SP3 power supplies, including the dock.  It will not work without being plugged in.

    It is all in the above posts.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-24T11:45:54+00:00

    With respect to the below, with respect to bricked units that won't boot either in the dock or on the SP3 power supplies, please read the prior posts, one by me, that verify that a SP4 charger will reboot a bricked unit and allow modification of the registry that then allows throttling the processor to 65%.  The unit then works on the SP3 power supplies, including the dock.  It will not work without being plugged in.

    It is all in the above posts.

    Microsoft states that while it may not boot while dock, it should boot while

    connected to the power supply only. can you verify that it will not boot while

    not in a dock and connected to the power supply?

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-24T10:48:24+00:00

    Microsoft states that while it may not boot while dock, it should boot while

    connected to the power supply only. can you verify that it will not boot while

    not in a dock and connected to the power supply?

    >> Now its finally bricked as it has insufficient juice to even boot

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-24T08:42:29+00:00

    hi Greg, I appreciate that Microsoft is saying that's the software issue and it's being worked on atm but if that's the case then it's Microsoft's fault for releasing software that messed it up? and all the users are suffering now? My surface last about 15 mins! on full charge! this is not acceptable. I can only use it as a PC now. I would never have bought it if I new I'd have so many issues with it! when is the estimated date for the quality team to clear the update and release it to the users?

    thanks

    Marcin

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