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
    2016-08-18T15:22:36+00:00

    That's wonderful news!  How did you get to that point so that I may follow suit?

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-18T15:36:48+00:00

    I had originally contacted Microsoft before stumbling across this thread, at which point they had said that it would be $450 for the replacement (2 months out of warranty).  After finding this thread, I replied and said:

    "It has become apparent that this battery failure is due to a manufacturing fault with the Simplo batteries, as evidenced by this thread:

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro3-surfhardware/surface-pro-3-battery-degradation/783f6a00-19ba-4dcf-a828-0ad87751e15a

    This is obviously an egregious manufacturing error.  There is no way that I will pay $450 to fix Microsoft’s mistake.  How can I go about getting this resolved?

    Thanks,"

    That's when they replied with the message posted previously. 

    Obviously, results may vary.  I just happened to have an excellent support rep.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-18T15:38:02+00:00

    Surface Pro 3 is little over 1 year old and battery holds no charge. As soon as power is removed from the Surface Pro 3 it will shut down cold.   The battery is an X898289 from Simplo.  The design capacity is 42,157 but the full charge capacity is reporting 144mWh and a cycle count of 74.  

    We will refuse to pay Microsoft $450 for the privilege of fixing this computer since both phone techs and in-store techs will not acknowledge that the battery (or firmware related to the battery) is a possible problem.  If firmware is the issue Microsoft needs to release update quickly or offer either battery replacement or full device replacement.  Right now the functionality of the Surface is significantly reduced. I will not order new Surface devices for clients until issue is resolved so I can confidently recommend.

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=d4e649d4-7417-4402-9c79-cbe4ad077df1)

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-18T15:46:25+00:00

    What was the method used to contact Microsoft Support?

    Other than travelling for hours to get in person to a Microsoft store for Free troubleshooting, the only options I've found to contact Surface support involve paying $99 just to talk to someone. I presume you didn't pay for access?

    eg: This appears to demand payment for anything out of warranty that involves talking to a human: https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-ca/support/contact-us

    Thanks for your help and glad you had a good experience where so many others have not.

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