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
    2016-09-05T10:26:26+00:00

    Hi Barb,

    thank you for you quick response. I tried my docking station and the original charger, both won't work. Since I still have warranty, I'll send my Surface in and say farewell to my data...

    In my opinion, the update destroyed the battery control unit and, therefore, killed my Surface.

    One other, slightly annoying thing is the customer service in Germany: You can schedule a call and they call you back later. Now, they call me to tell me that customer service is only availably during working hours (9-6). It is currently noon... even better, I scheduled a call to my fixed-line phone and now, they call me every 30 minutes to tell me this...

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-05T12:05:23+00:00

    Hi Marlin,

    I got the same situation like yours.

    After battery not detected then i update the firmware and the battery 100% used by the application.

    After that i can not start the SFP3, nothing show up on the screen, event the 2 buttons hold down for 20 seconds, unless a litle light on keyboard.

    I tried for 3 times hold down the 2 bottom, still same result, no response.

    Finally i try SFP3 connect to external display, and it's work so i can backup my data.

    But i still got the battery not detected and blank screen after update the firmware, very dissapointed.

    Rgds,

    Budi

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-09-05T12:20:11+00:00

    Hi Budi,

    I tried it, but the only "success" I recently had was the light of the keyboard flashing for a second when I tried to start the Surface in the docking station with external display...

    I'll ship it in this afternoon.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-09-05T13:19:53+00:00

    I don't expect the docking station to work. Can you find a friend with a SP3 or

    SP4 or Surface Book and try their charger?

    >> I tried my docking station and the original charger, both won't work.

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