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

2016-10-11T16:09:05+00:00

Sure, I will do this. Please wait for a day.
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Anonymous

if you have a SIMPLO that successfully installed the 8/29 fix and still have

issues, YOU can open a new thread (include your battery report) but I fear MS

will treat these no differently than other battery failures out of warranty (pay

for an exchange). *I* would like to see a battery report.

>>perhaps Barb should open a new thread for everyone with the "not charging

Battery report

COMPUTER NAME	DESKTOP-NMKML7N
SYSTEM PRODUCT NAME	Microsoft Corporation Surface Pro 3
BIOS	3.11.1550 06/30/2016
OS BUILD	14393.206.amd64fre.rs1_release.160915-0644
PLATFORM ROLE	Slate
CONNECTED STANDBY	Supported
REPORT TIME	2016-10-11 12:11:47

Installed batteries

Information about each currently installed battery

NAME	X898289
MANUFACTURER	SIMPLO
SERIAL NUMBER	1161107972
CHEMISTRY	LION
DESIGN CAPACITY	42,157 mWh
FULL CHARGE CAPACITY	33,828 mWh
CYCLE COUNT	36

Recent usage

Power states over the last 3 days

2016-10-11 11:29:12	Active	AC	61 %	20,801 mWh
12:11:00	Report generated	AC	61 %	20,801 mWh

Battery usage

Battery drains over the last 3 days

-	-	-	-	-

Usage history

History of system usage on AC and battery

2016-10-07	-	-	-	-
2016-10-08	-	-	-	-
2016-10-09	-	-	-	-
2016-10-10	-	-	-	-

Battery capacity history

Charge capacity history of the system's batteries

2016-10-07	33,828 mWh	42,157 mWh
2016-10-08	33,828 mWh	42,157 mWh
2016-10-09	33,828 mWh	42,157 mWh
2016-10-10	33,828 mWh	42,157 mWh

Battery life estimates

Battery life estimates based on observed drains

2016-10-07	-	-	-	-
2016-10-08	-	-	-	-
2016-10-09	-	-	-	-
2016-10-10	-	-	-	-

Current estimate of battery life based on all observed drains since OS install

Since OS install	-	-		-	-

Not much to see, since I have reset many times and usually I have to go thru an Auto Repair every boot, to get logged in. Was 99%, not charging since July, now it 62% not charging since the updated firmware and degrading daily by about 2%.

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Anonymous

2016-10-11T17:17:40+00:00

you really should try a reimage from a downloadable recovery image

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/downloadablerecoveryimage

if you see auto repair every boot... then deal with the battery issues.

>> and usually I have to go thru an Auto Repair every boot
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Anonymous

2016-10-11T17:31:17+00:00

I have performed the recovery process twice; however, after the Windows updates and firmware are applied, the issue continues. The battery issue causes the SP3 to die without shutting down correctly; thus, the two issues are mutually inclusive.
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