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
    2016-09-24T11:20:22+00:00

    I find it highly interesting that this many folks would have a problem with a product that is not repaired by any of the proposed fixes. Additionally, most of these folks have to pay $100 to get someone on the phone and no repair. Once that inevitably fails, they are told to fork out another $480+ to get another one?!? This is a prime example of how to NOT keep your customer base. I will be notifying my peers and professional/personal family. Stay away if you are the lucky few to just be reviewing a product before purchase!!

    -Highly dissatisfied

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-24T02:04:13+00:00

    Hi DatabaseJase,

    Does it mean the SP4 power cable will help as it will supply enough charge so as not to drain from battery while on AC power?

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-09-21T12:40:16+00:00

    The bottom line is if you did not buy an extended warranty, then MS expects you to pay more than the cost of the extended warranty to teach you a lesson...

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-09-21T00:40:43+00:00

    Simon:

    I have something of a similar problem - i have spoken to 3 or 4 Microsoft techs and been informed that i have a faulty battery that it is a hardware issue - the problem is that a friend of mine purchased this sp3 and the battery issue only began after i purchased it from him- shortly after the firmware upgrade that fixed the Simplo batteries - i have the LGC battery.

    My battery shows the design full charge as 42,(and change), but my machines full charge shows over 44,000 - so the battery is designed to hold something like a 5900 MAH charge, yet it is being over-charged, possibly past 6000MAH.... Even though this issue only just showed up, and even though the device is less than 4 months out of warranty, and even though it's obviously a risk to continue using a lithium ion battery that continuously over charges, and even though the battery has only been through 120 cycle (the device has not been used very much) Microsoft informed me that had it been s few months ago i would have qualified for a free replacement; however, since it's out of warranty, too bad, nothing will be done.

    I'm only posting this to see if anyone else is experiencing anything similar.

    Thanks.

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