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
    2016-08-03T13:46:29+00:00

    If this fix were true, many of us here (including myself) who primarily use a docking station would never have had our batteries degrade in the first place.   Fortunately, Microsoft replaced my SP3 and the new one is working fine---for now.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-03T15:49:25+00:00

    "Antony/Everyone

    has anyone with the SIMPLO battery issue been able to upgrade to the Windows

    Anniversary Upgrade successfully using Windows Update? (Go to settings, Updates

    and manually check for updates). There is NO fix there for the issue, but I'd

    like to know if the battery degradation is"

    If all this upgrade is going to do for me, is erase the evidence of my battery history and prevent further history being available, why would I even attempt it?

    What sort of an update gets pushed because of an anniversary, anyway? Is that like Microsoft celebrating an anniversary of something, by actually applying a bug fix to something that has an anniversary of being broken?

    There are some strange trains of thought going on at Microsoft, that's for sure. Still, many of Microsoft's products have been overly complex and unituitive, for as long as I can remember.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-03T15:54:50+00:00

    I just finished the update and firmware update everything went fine. So far no change with the battery.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-03T16:13:39+00:00

    Just a update on mine. I can no longer use the surface 3 pro in the docking station. it will power on and a few moments later just turn off. I can still run it off the charger that came with it, but this is a pain because now I have to get a usb hub, a usb network adapater and a mini display port to display port cable so I can use it with my monitor and network. The dock is now useless because of this battery issue.

    The problem with the dock is it does not supply sufficient power to charge the tablet and run the peripheral ports, when the tablet is utilizing a lot of CPU, such as playing a video, or booting up. Furthermore, the dock is simply not charging the battery when the Surface is shutdown, so the catch 22 is to get the surface started up before the battery dies, long enough for the battery to start to charge, when there's insufficient charge in the battery to complete the startup process.

    What I found as a workaround, was to plug the Surface into the portable power connector, then startup and log in. I then leave it to sit there while the pathetic charge level reaches over 50%, which only takes minutes. Then, shutdown and remove the cord. Immediately transfer to the dock, with all peripherals disconnected. Startup and login, there should be just enough juice to get to a fully booted and logged in state. Don't start to use it yet. Wait for the battery to charge to over 90% and slowly add peripherals.

    I dragged the battery indicator from the hidden icons tray to the start menu, so I can see it charging and the current charge level. If it drops below 30% it will simply turn off, so I limit CPU usage by closing apps I'm not using, including the system tray apps. I also close browser tabs and avoid videos. When I do play a video, I keep an eye on the battery indicator.

    It's a pain in the butt, but with a pathetic 144 mWh battery charge, I can run a mouse, keyboard and 2 displayPort monitors with WiFi. If I play videos, the battery instantly drops and begins charging, but the CPU may be drawing more power faster than the battery can charge and the surface will shut off after too long. If the Surface fan kicks in, I need to close my apps, because the Surface is about to turn off.

    I hope this helps. It's a bad situation and turned a fast boot tool into a long winded game of Russian roulette, but I have managed to get my dock to work with a dead battery.

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