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
    2016-08-18T20:44:53+00:00

    I completely understand that, i was explaining that the microsoft supporter person I spoke with, when questioned, explained that my replacement surface would not have any warranty past the date of my original device's warranty. He did not mention the 90 days. I in fact raised issue and he said that was how it was. When i checked my account however, the extension in the warranty does show.

    I may be using that warranty, after seeing that my replacement unit's battery capacity has gone down 2000mAh after one day.

    I am not pleased.

    just to add, I have just got off chat with Ms and they told me my warranty had been extended for my new device until November 2017!!!

    Does the new one also have a SIMPLO battery?

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-18T20:44:27+00:00

    LGC batteries are also affected although far fewer reports than for SIMPLO so you might be ok.

    Yep, and I've heard some LGC complaints but I wasn't sure what to make of it at this point. I don't think MS has excluded LGC in any of their statements so it's possible LGC's were just manufactured later and therefore will be impacted later.

    My LGC capacity has already declined (goes up and down actually). My only saving grace is that they extended my warranty another year+2mo (Oct 2017). So I'll be running my powercfg frequently.. Still kinda sad that you'd have to.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-18T19:44:05+00:00

    I completely understand that, i was explaining that the microsoft supporter person I spoke with, when questioned, explained that my replacement surface would not have any warranty past the date of my original device's warranty. He did not mention the 90 days. I in fact raised issue and he said that was how it was. When i checked my account however, the extension in the warranty does show.

    I may be using that warranty, after seeing that my replacement unit's battery capacity has gone down 2000mAh after one day.

    I am not pleased.

    just to add, I have just got off chat with Ms and they told me my warranty had been extended for my new device until November 2017!!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-18T19:19:21+00:00

    Yes of course, all updates installed. I had to go through that horrid powershell stuff to sort the apps.

    The battery in my original device has appx 25k now, at the time of me getting it ready to send back.

    THE new one has dropped to 38k.

    I contacted microsoft as my first device went from 100% to 8% without me touching it.

    I wouldnt use my case as a representation of all batteries. These two surfaces i have here now, have different rates.

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