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
    2016-10-12T16:15:50+00:00

    do you have the jumping cycle counter issue as well?

    >>and now this jumping cycle counter

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-10-13T04:05:18+00:00

    Having same issues with my SP3, 18 months old out; not covered by warranty now. Battery is at 0%, sometimes not detected sometimes says plugged in but not charging. Downloaded the firmware 2x, refreshed and reinstalled surface pro 3 tools.

    Spoke with 2 techs, online and in store, both offered a replacement of 550C$+tax. for a USED UNIT AND 90 DAY WARRANTY. The techs pretended they didn't even know of this issues and replied with "thank you, I will forward this to management". Even when if Im able to decide what battery my used device will have, it will likely be some poor user that had the same issue that I will have after a few months with a replacement unit; thanks to internet searches and this forum.

    A replacement and this firmware is no help to this default of Microsoft. Asked to downgrade my device to a S3 and/or laptop; nope it's not possible. Thanks for robbing me Microsoft. I'll make sure to forward all of this throughout the internet. Buying a Mac now, as much as Im not a fan. Their customer support and quality is insured that my battery replacement will be replaced for $100.

    ADMIT YOUR MISTAKES MICROSOFT.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-10-13T05:56:03+00:00

    My cycle count has been going up by 7 and the battery has been losing capacity.

    Battery report

    COMPUTER NAME DESKTOP-CB9PEME
    SYSTEM PRODUCT NAME Microsoft Corporation Surface Pro 3
    BIOS 3.11.1550 06/30/2016
    OS BUILD 10586.633.amd64fre.th2_release.161004-1602
    PLATFORM ROLE Slate
    CONNECTED STANDBY Supported
    REPORT TIME 2016-10-13 01:42:10

    Installed batteries

    Information about each currently installed battery

    NAME X898289
    MANUFACTURER SIMPLO
    SERIAL NUMBER 1166416388
    CHEMISTRY LION
    DESIGN CAPACITY 42,157 mWh
    FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 34,162 mWh
    CYCLE COUNT 86

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-10-13T10:46:37+00:00

    please run your battery down completely until the Surface shuts off on its own.

    then charge over night. turn on and rerun the battery report. post again.

    >>CYCLE COUNT 86

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