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
    2016-07-13T18:54:01+00:00

    Adding my name to the list also. Mine was purchased directly from Microsoft. It never got hot and was mostly used with a docking station. I am very angry!!!

    NAME X898289
    MANUFACTURER SIMPLO
    SERIAL NUMBER 1167333892
    CHEMISTRY LION
    DESIGN CAPACITY 42,157 mWh
    FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 7,858 mWh
    CYCLE COUNT 140

    *Edit - I realized that I used a credit card with extended warranty to purchase my Surface Pro 3. It looks like they'll cover it! Thanks Capital One!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-11T13:56:11+00:00

    I too have just encountered this problem, but i have found a solution if you can call it that.....

    make sure its plugged into a power source and go through to the following

    Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Edit Plan Settings

    once there click on 

    Change advanced power settings

    a new window will open called Power Options, click on the check box to open the Battery options

    now click on the check box to open the Critical Battery Action options

    click on the Plugged In option, it will now be highlighted and have a drop box menu active

    click the arrow on the drop box and select Do nothing

    click the OK or Apply button and you're done.

    You now have a glorified desktop tablet PC. It will still turn itself off once you disconnect your power source, but at least it will function as normal when plugged in.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-10T23:32:39+00:00

    Exact same problem here as well - Surface Pro 3 purchased in December, 2014. All was well until May, 2016. Between May 8 and July 6 I dropped from 42,000+ mWh capacity down to 8500 mWh, and that remaining capacity continues to plummet. I only have 245 charge cycles to date.

    I had an appointment at a Microsoft store to troubleshoot. To their credit, they spent almost an hour trying different fixes but concluded that, unfortunately, the battery was faulty and the only "fix" was to pay $450 for a refurb.

    They also suggested a factory reset, which I've now completed to no avail.

    I'm extremely disappointed, as I love the surface product, but can no longer recommend it after paying almost $1,500 for a highly portable device that has now lost all of it's portability. I'm also extremely disappointed in Microsoft support for not making any effort to make good on what their own service reps acknowledge as a manufacturer's defect. This is a premium product and I feel like I've been taken for a ride...I hope others can share their experiences for Microsoft to take notice, because as it stands I certainly will not purchase their hardware in the future.

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=91f1b6b5-7a6a-4262-8807-5088cb50faf6)

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-08T17:01:09+00:00

    Oh, that's fabulous (insert ticked off face!). I go to that link and have to pay $99 to get support on my Surface. I'm certain I'd pay that $99 just for them to tell me to send it to them to purchase a $500 battery. My surface pro 3 is 18 months old! The battery should not have died this soon. This is a racket and will end up in a lawsuit, which I'm looking forward to. In the meantime, I'll never purchase another MS product until I have my battery replaced at no cost. I spent $1,400 on this product and this is unacceptable.

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