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
    2016-08-30T11:17:35+00:00

    Thank You for the Answer, but I have an LGC battery and my battery stays at "82%, Not Charging", but it'll instantly turn off when I unplug the power source; so for me Simplo or LGC makes zero difference

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=9ef2c073-5f22-4e30-988d-02a9d13e0a9c)

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T11:31:59+00:00

    Can you please start a new thread with this issue?

    Thank You for the Answer, but I have an LGC battery and my battery stays at "82%, Not Charging", but it'll instantly turn off when I unplug the power source; so for me Simplo or LGC makes zero difference

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T11:41:20+00:00

    Suggest you start a new thread, different issue.

    I'm not sure that is correct, some SP3 owners with LGC batteries also reported degradation too.  In response to Wildsoldier I'd say have a little patience and try running the battery down and then charge to 100% again and according to MS you should see the battery re-learn it's real capacity.

    If not then report back as there is a possibility that a tweak to this fix is required for LGC batteries.  Depending on the results it might be appropriate to start a new thread to highlight LGC.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T11:47:32+00:00

    Barb has done her best to help raise this issue, especially being very vocal on Twitter to gain publicity through high profile Microsoft bloggers, so I know she has the best intentions.  All that despite her own SP3 being completely unaffected by this battery degradation issue.

    I have not read Barb suggesting anyone service their own machine or suggest that people should pay for a replacement.  I personally don't find her comments condescending so perhaps there is a language barrier or perhaps sometimes due to the volume of help the MVP's provide they only have time for answers that are direct and to the point.

    I would certainly not describe Barb as biased and I'm sure we have her to thank that Microsoft took notice of this.

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