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
    2016-09-10T13:48:24+00:00

    This was unhelpful and did not work. My Surface Pro 3 continues to show "plugged in - not charging" and if I remove the charging adapter cable the unit immediately shuts down.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-10T13:12:23+00:00

    Quick update: 4 days later I received a brand new S3P. It seems that they were not willing/able to fix it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-09-10T07:38:31+00:00

    I am happy to say that after the update and 7 cycles of discharge and charge, my SP3 battery indicator is (kind of) running normally. It appears to me that different SP3 exhibits different behaviours to the update. So I am sharing some observations for mine over the last many days after the update.

    The first 5 cycles has been erratic. For the first 2x, the SP3 shutdowns automatically at around 40%, having being stuck at 99% for 2 hours and next 2 hours moves from 99% to 40%. Subsequent ones had battery indicator working ok but life drops to about 2-3 hours. 

    The last cycle, I can use the SP3 for 5 hours straight, battery % drop looks normal, time remaining is as unbelievable as always so no big deal. Not sure if this catastrophe caused damage to my battery already, but I guess my SP3 is one lucky survivor of this disaster. I will certainly continue to monitor though, just to be sure my SP3 is ok. It's a lovely piece of kit.

    Maybe we need more patience. Wish everyone good luck and your SP3 speedy recovery. :)

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-09-09T07:36:39+00:00

    Yes - all surfaces need to find a new balance in what the capacity really is. Per the FAQ, it will take five charge and discharge cycles to relearn the actual battery capacity.

    I think there is no reason for concern but its worthwhile to check it regularly...

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