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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
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.

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

1,459 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2017-02-06T05:32:41+00:00

    I'm curious, is this "fix" they are sending you supposed to fix your specific battery  issue or the over all SP3 battery issues of poor life? Thanks.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2017-02-06T14:58:55+00:00

    Interesting, so they shipped a flash drive.  You will boot from it, and it will apply a fix.

    What did it cost you to get it shipped.

    Will be interesting to see what happens, up to this point, Microsoft has completely failed., and made me look like a complete fool to my clients.

    Well?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2017-02-07T13:34:21+00:00

    As this may surprise you, I am still waiting on the Recovery USB... :(  There were no costs.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2017-02-07T14:08:05+00:00

    I spoke with Microsoft yesterday also and that usb is just as you said, "recovery/reset" not specifically battery related. Hope it will restore your SP3 to the good old days and stay that way this time.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments