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
    2016-07-30T03:18:30+00:00

    Hello everyone,

    We are aware of some customers reporting a scenario with their Surface Pro 3 batteries in which the system is reporting lower battery capacity than expected. We’ve isolated this to a limited number of customers experiencing this issue.

    Based on our investigations we can confirm that it is not an issue with the battery cells, and we believe this is something that can be addressed via software.

    We’re working through the details of how we deliver that.

    Thank you all for the details you've shared here,

    Greg

    Hi Greg,

    Earlier as I reported to you, the battery status was Plugged In Not Charging (85%).

    Today I switched it on with AC power, no battery is detected.

    The battery report cannot find the battery.

    Take a look at the screenshot. 

    Please do something.

    I with my slate  are stuck to the AC power supply.

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=e545a498-5c2e-4eca-951c-f4b415fb8284)

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-29T21:42:23+00:00

    I am having the same exact issue with my surface pro 3. Hopefully MSFT can come up with a software update. Right now my surface has become almost unusable. As soon the power cord is off, my surface shuts down.

    Battery capacity history

    Charge capacity history of the system's batteries

    2015-11-16 - 2015-11-22 39,694 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2015-11-22 - 2015-11-29 39,492 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2015-11-29 - 2015-12-23 39,477 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2015-12-23 - 2015-12-30 41,936 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2015-12-30 - 2016-01-03 40,794 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-03 - 2016-01-12 38,920 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-12 - 2016-01-17 41,025 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-17 - 2016-01-25 42,376 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-25 - 2016-01-31 41,085 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-31 - 2016-02-07 36,826 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-07 - 2016-02-14 33,818 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-14 - 2016-02-21 29,770 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-21 - 2016-02-29 25,827 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-29 - 2016-03-06 24,191 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-06 - 2016-03-13 24,899 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-13 - 2016-03-20 22,811 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-20 - 2016-03-27 20,615 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-27 - 2016-04-03 19,736 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-03 - 2016-04-10 15,129 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-10 - 2016-04-18 13,426 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-18 - 2016-04-25 12,821 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-25 - 2016-05-02 12,468 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-02 - 2016-05-09 11,467 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-09 - 2016-05-16 10,215 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-16 - 2016-05-23 8,848 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-23 - 2016-05-30 7,468 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-30 - 2016-06-06 6,047 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-07 5,713 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-08 5,455 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-09 5,191 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-10 5,191 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-11 5,090 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-12 4,932 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-13 4,932 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-14 4,932 mWh 42,157 mWh

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-29T19:41:56+00:00

    I just spoke with a support person. He mentioned that they are aware of the issue and working on a software solution. He said that these solutions normally take 2 - 3 months to develop. I'd love if it would come faster, but I have a feeling that he is right.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-29T19:03:58+00:00

    is this a retail or enterprise/education version of Windows?

    you should be at 10586.494

    check windows updates.

    >>OS BUILD 10586.212.amd64fre.th2_release_sec.160328-1908

     I just re checked windows updates they downloaded onto the surface ok  but wont install as I dont have 40% battery charge

    11%  plugged in not charging 

    if there is a software update to fix this problem ,does it mean  it wont be any good to me as i cannot update due to not having  40% battery life ?

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