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
    2016-08-23T16:07:00+00:00

    I have always used windows from 3.1 all versions. Honestly, I don't know what they are trying to achieve with the user interface. Trying to find their way and releasing something not at all intuitive. Why is screen saver located under "lock screen" and screen off and sleep in a totally different place? They still haven't been able to merge settings. Some can be accessed from the sliding in all settings, others from control panel... Auto time zone does not work for me, one needs to disable all those silly services (windows search, superfetch) to improve performance and clean up him- or herself. I removed 20GB+ after the millennial update. And the list goes on with hunting KB articles and forums to find solution to annoying problems. Maybe I'm getting old in my late 30s and not as adventurous as I used to be. I no longer think that fixing these is cool, I just want something that simply works.

    Two positives though so you don't think I'm a permabear. The continuum thing is a really good idea, too bad windows phones have something like 1% market share and the other is that they dare to innovate. Let's be perfectly honest: the SP3 is a really good concept. The touch and pen add a lot to productivity, but hey Microsoft, this is not how you penetrate into a market. A good idea in itself is not enough with so-so execution both on hw and sw front, all topped with horrible customer support.

    From Dale's post above it is clear, that those in decision making have a spine that of a snail and the guy at the end of the food chain is the one showing real empathy and providing presumably unofficial support to manage customers' expactations.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-23T16:59:44+00:00

    I think I speak for all SP 3owners when I say, this is the most anticipated day in history and probably the longest week they have ever experienced in their lives.It cannot come soon enough and I hope every single person charged for a replacement descends on Microsoft immediately.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-23T17:41:53+00:00

    Yep, I for one can't wait to get back to actually using my SP3. I only hope it then lasts long enough for something worthy to come along as a similar replacement. I don't like Macs all that much, but certainly can't argue with their longevity and build quality. I would love to see their real "Surface-killer" at some point, not just the iPad Pro which is not in the same class. Touch-enabled OSX, a really good KB cover with trackpad, and good battery life...I'd be all for that. However, at least with things like the Asus Transformer 3 Pro it looks like there will be more and more of these type devices to choose from. I love the form factor and don't want to go back to traditional laptop.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-23T20:19:52+00:00

    Does anyone know if the two updates today addressed this?

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