Surface Pro 3 battery degradation

Anonymous

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.

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Anonymous

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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1,459 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-08-11T03:11:33+00:00

I talked with Microsoft Support this morning after receiving and email about proceeding with a replacement for my dead SP3. It is now completely dead after having successfully installed the Anniversary OS update and the 8/1/2016 firmware update. It will not boot at all. Unfortunately the Support person stated that while they understood my frustration, Microsoft has only authorized them to offer the $450.00 replacement. I declined. Microsoft's software trashed the SP3 that was 1 and 1/2 months out of warranty. If they still do not have a solution to the problem then it doesn't make sense to dumb more money into it. I will not be buying another Microsoft hardware product anytime soon!
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Anonymous

2016-08-11T03:05:19+00:00

I don't have the stats for the battery but the techs at the Microsoft store ran all the tests today and just gave me the bad news that the battery is dead. My choices are a refurbished (not gonna happen) or to drop another bundle of cash for another new one that could develop the same problem again.

My decision is to use the Pro 3 plugged in and wait for Microsoft to make it right.
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Anonymous

2016-08-11T01:42:39+00:00

You know folks, this battery issue is getting very old. The answer seems to be "We are working on it" or It is out of warranty and will cost you $500 +.

There is a very obvious problem, and Microsoft will not solve it. If they are forced to replace all of these SP3's it will get their attention.

My suggestion is we need to start a class action law suit against Microsoft.

I am tired of Microsoft making me look like a total idiot to my clients!
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Anonymous

2016-08-11T01:03:21+00:00

I'm not sure if this has been discussed in the thread already (at 64 pages long I could have missed it), but an issue I didn't notice until my SP3's battery capacity fell below 300mWh is that when it is under heavy load (including when it is starting up) it draws more power than the AC adapter can provide and the battery had gotten to the point where it was just barely able to cover the shortfall.

To avoid reaching a point where the Surface was unable to boot-up, I set the "Maximum processor state" to 65%, which seems to keep the system within the limits of what the AC adapter can provide. This option is not available by default in the Power Options for the Surface. However, adding the registry key below will make the option visible in the advanced power options menu.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\bc5038f7-23e0-4960-96da-33abaf5935ec

Add: DWORD

Value Name: Attributes

Value Data: 2

Does it mean that value data 2 translates to 65%?

What is the value data for 60%, a fraction of 2?

Thanks
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