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
    2016-08-15T03:56:43+00:00

    Nothing suspicious about the 8/1 update.  You now have the 1607 release which starts all event logs over again.  Look in windows.old and it will be in there.

    Bottom line this isn't Microsoft trying to hide the issue.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-15T06:27:53+00:00

    Nothing suspicious about the 8/1 update.  You now have the 1607 release which starts all event logs over again.  Look in windows.old and it will be in there.

    Bottom line this isn't Microsoft trying to hide the issue.

    You know, telling us that a release resets all the logs, does not imply there's nothing suspicious. It implies there was something Microsoft wanted removed. Why should any software release require existing data to be deleted?

    The bottom line is, one of the following is true: -

        a) Microsoft IS trying to remove evidence of something.

        b) Microsoft IS being negligent, erasing data that might be quite important, from users devices.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-15T09:05:29+00:00

    Dear K. Krisada,

    I also have the same problem with you.

    My Surface pro 3 have Simplo battery which just significantly lose charges after month of July.

    Already contact the Microsoft support from Thailand, asked to pay about Bath 20,000- for complete exchange of the Surface Pro 3 Unit. (Which is more expensive than in the US.)

    Actually my current Surface Pro 3 is the replacement unit of the original unit I purchased more than a year ago.

    I'm really hope that Microsoft will find someway to fix the problem really soon since my Surface Pro 3 already loss charge about 50 % already.

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=fc679b99-9a95-4b0e-a30c-2543b25bebcb)![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=76a357c8-5751-4973-8f86-18ed3a1e8f00)

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-15T11:20:40+00:00

    I think it's important to understand the distinction between a normal Windows Update and a Windows 10 Feature Update (The 1607 / Anniversary Update is the latter).  In the Windows 10 era a Feature Update is a full build of Windows, like installing an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 for example), and causes your Windows folder to be renamed Windows.old and then a new Windows folder is created from decompressing the new WIM (Windows Image) file before finally merging your settings, etc.  That is why your old history has been moved.

    This is why, since the Windows Vista/7 era, it is no longer necessary to do a "clean" install since essentially every Windows upgrade is now a new installation but with your personal files and folders (and most customisation) is retained and merged back into the new installation so it appears like an upgrade.

    While it is easy to roll out the tin foil conspiracy theories there is a rational explanation for your experience.  Steven Sinofsky did a blog post on this new upgrade experience in the Building Windows 7 blog which is still discoverable today.  People like to hate on Vista but actually while the OS was troubled it was the beginning of many technologies that makes Windows 10 as secure and componentised as it is today.

    End of history lesson. :)

    EDIT: Found the link which is actually about Windows 8 but explains how Windows 7 copied retained files back into the new installation which is different to how Windows XP and before did upgrades: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/b8/2011/11/21/improving-the-setup-experience/

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