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
    2016-08-08T14:16:35+00:00

    I am lucky enough to have an extended warranty as I bought mine from John Lewis who do a 2 year warranty as default on all electrical goods and occasionally a third year of cover on some items.

    I'm in the same situation, purchased from John Lewis and my SP3 is noted as having a 3 year guarantee, but after phoning them I'm left a little disappointed.  Within the 1st year they would have offered a full refund, or replacement, but after that it is just repair unless Microsoft specifically do a recall on these (given their silence I'm not expecting that any time soon).  I explained that the SP3's suffer from a systemic battery failure and that any replacement would simply fail too (as proven by people on here who are on their 2nd battery).

    I was told to go into a John Lewis store, after wiping the device, who would then send it away for assessment and repair which could take up to 28 days.  I rely on my SP3 for my business so that isn't much of an option.  At this point I don't trust my SP3, even after a repair, so really just want my money back so I can purchase something else or a direct replacement with the equivalent SP4 model.

    I expect the silence from Microsoft is probably due to the legalities around who pays for these devices and who is ultimately to blame.  I'm sure the legal teams at MS are in contact with Simplo threatening them with legal action.  This means we'll be left waiting months before anything actually happens unless this really can be fixed with a software update.

    I don't believe this is just a Simplo issue since I also have an LGC battery and I have seen a substantial degradation of the battery these few month. Others have experience this as well. However seems to be worst and the degradation is faster for Simplo batteries. Mine have a charging capacity of 67% of its total capacity. So in other words I have lost 33% capacity and looks to be increasing as time passes. I don't use my surface that often i believe it only have 150 cycles.

    The degradation for the past year was only 3% until May or so then...suddenly i turn it ON one time and made a huge jump to 20%....next 28%...30%...now 33%. Isn't this supposed to only degrade 20% after 4.5 years....now is 33% in just 2 years and i already lost the extended warranty.  I believe in a few weeks is going to get worst and worst for my LGC.

    I visited my local Microsoft store and they still insist is a software issue that is going to be addressed in a firmware fix sometime.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-08T13:25:40+00:00

    I am lucky enough to have an extended warranty as I bought mine from John Lewis who do a 2 year warranty as default on all electrical goods and occasionally a third year of cover on some items.

    I'm in the same situation, purchased from John Lewis and my SP3 is noted as having a 3 year guarantee, but after phoning them I'm left a little disappointed.  Within the 1st year they would have offered a full refund, or replacement, but after that it is just repair unless Microsoft specifically do a recall on these (given their silence I'm not expecting that any time soon).  I explained that the SP3's suffer from a systemic battery failure and that any replacement would simply fail too (as proven by people on here who are on their 2nd battery).

    I was told to go into a John Lewis store, after wiping the device, who would then send it away for assessment and repair which could take up to 28 days.  I rely on my SP3 for my business so that isn't much of an option.  At this point I don't trust my SP3, even after a repair, so really just want my money back so I can purchase something else or a direct replacement with the equivalent SP4 model.

    I expect the silence from Microsoft is probably due to the legalities around who pays for these devices and who is ultimately to blame.  I'm sure the legal teams at MS are in contact with Simplo threatening them with legal action.  This means we'll be left waiting months before anything actually happens unless this really can be fixed with a software update.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-08T12:50:44+00:00

    If you are like me and must find a replacement, I'd recommend the Samsung Notebook 9.  With the thirteen inch screen it has a smaller footprint than the Surface.  It is a very well behaved computer and I am very happy to be back in (mobile) business.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-08T07:30:48+00:00

    I just wrote a review and it went through.

    Are you sure? Most recent review appears to be 7 days old.

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