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
    2016-07-19T13:55:09+00:00

    As I explained, you must be running Windows 10 with the Feedback Hub installed, when you can paste it into the Run dialogue (WinKey+R).  I've now created a web link that you can use instead which will then prompt you to open the Feedback Hub:

    https://feedbackhub.link/feedback/71/3f578c18-7908-4c51-8a66-6c8523d90c15/

    This issue is not limited to Win10.

    I'm curious about how many of who are affected also use the SP3 docking station (not the new one) as that is how I use mine mostly so actual "battery" only usage is fairly low overall.

    This seems to be gaining some coverage now (thanks to Barb's persistence) so hopefully Microsoft can look through the general telemetry they receive and find the route cause.

    I do not use a docking station, but usually (90%) had the SP3 plugged in when in use. I'm now down to 524mWh full charge. It no longer can hold enough charge to go into sleep mode while I commute home (10min). This is not battery wear/degradation, it's straight up battery failure.

    Agreed, hopefully Microsoft realizes this is not a small problem. SIMPLO should be worried at this point.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-19T11:26:34+00:00

    I don't use a docking station (I doubt it's available at where I live at all) but mine stay plugged about maybe 80-90% of the time.  My cycle count was around 73 when I noticed the issue, but there are few people here whose cycle count is around 200.

    Thank you Barb Bowman for bringing some media attention. I really hope Microsoft will take notice sometimes soon.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-19T11:16:05+00:00

    I'm curious about how many of who are affected also use the SP3 docking station (not the new one) as that is how I use mine mostly so actual "battery" only usage is fairly low overall.

    This seems to be gaining some coverage now (thanks to Barb's persistence) so hopefully Microsoft can look through the general telemetry they receive and find the route cause.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-19T10:03:42+00:00

    The link will open the program but only in the English version of Windows

    https://feedbackhub.link/feedback/71/3f578c18-7908-4c51-8a66-6c8523d90c15/

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