Surface Pro 3 battery degradation

Anonymous

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.

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Anonymous

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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1,459 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-08-16T20:08:30+00:00

New dock...

The brick on my new model dock is rated at 6 amps at 15 volts. The brick appears to be rated for a total of 101 watts input. My original style dock shows 4 amps at 12 volts and a 52 watt input. One Surface Pro 3 brick here shows 2.58 amps at 12 volts with a 48 watt input. The other shows the same 1.58a/12v but a 41 watt input.
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Anonymous

2016-08-16T20:56:14+00:00

Adding my SP3 to the pile: Even in the past week with me trying to "recondition" the battery, total capacity went from ~2700 mWh to ~1700 mWh.

It lasts maybe 30s after unplugging before it automatically hibernates, then only another 2 mins after unhibernating.

This is totally unacceptable for a less-than-2 years old device.

Microsoft needs to own up to this, now.
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Anonymous

2016-08-16T21:19:54+00:00

I'm sure if there's a firmware patch in the works, it's going through extended testing. The absolute worst thing that could happen is a patch that makes things worse or bricks some small percentage of machines. That would be truly disastrous. I'd rather wait for a solid patch than quickly get a half-baked patch any day.

Others might have a different opinion but mine is that that approach works for devices/issues that doesn't impact usage of the device but in this case where a device costing around $1,500 can't even be used plugged in or as the portable device it was designed then it is unacceptable to say to people if you can't wait then pay $400 for repair/replacement.

Any owner in that situation should be able to send in a battery report, showing the completely unusable battery capacity, and have a replacement device shipped to them that can then be used while the fix is finalised. If Microsoft can't manage that then the alternative is communication stating progress and possible timeline (is it a week, a month, 6 months, etc.).

This wall of silence is an insult to people like me who have invested in the top of the line Surface Pro 3 plus Type Keyboard and Docking Station amounting to around a £2,000 investment. I will not tolerate being treated like this so I'll take my business elsewhere and I say that as a big supporter of Microsoft who has previously purchased a Surface RT, Surface 2 and a Surface Pro 2 not to mention numerous Lumia devices.
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Anonymous

2016-08-16T22:50:34+00:00

Amen brother. I am in the same boat as you. i7 SP3Pro, with dock, long time supporter. **** I have a windows phone. Today the surface started turning off when the CPU load went up. Suspecting insufficient power I tried the surface unlocked with only the power pack and it says on. Re docked and it powers off. I concluded the dock power supply to be insufficient. Moved all my USB devices from the dock to a powered USB hub, and turned off the SP3 display (I have 3 external monitors) and its been ok since.

My conclusion is that at some point MS tweaked the SP3 so that it would boost the CPU up such that the dock power supply is insufficient to 100% supply it, and that battery was making up the difference. I leave my surface turned on and docked nearly 100% of the time.

My battery is at 144mWh, joy.....

Other then this my SP3 Pro has been a great device. But I think I am going to shy away from non-removable batteries. Its just not worth the trouble.....and extra 3mm thick device is worth it. MS has a long history if mediocre hardware design. Their keyboards are crap and always have been, the SP2 has a lame power cable end that breaks even with careful use.

Really frustrated with my SP3 right now..... My years and years old Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2 is still going strong.....19% battery wear
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