SURFACE LAPTOP 3 - Overheating when charging and excessive Fan Noise

Anonymous
2020-01-07T23:58:07+00:00

Edit: 16 Jun 2021

Laptop is going OK - not much fan noise or heating as I haven't been using it much. mostly my work laptop

Got a better data USB C to USB C cable to plug into the dock and using a Lenovo Dock Gen 2 for the additional screen, think they are helping in better handling and keeps fans not to rev so much

Being my 3rd laptop (replaced 2 before) battery is performing better than the other two. Haven't run the full tests yet - still in progress to test real word batt life (office work, no games, no memory or cpu intensive apps)

Edit: 17 Feb 2021

Well, this 3rd laptop replacement is not as bad as the other two, however, the rocket engine fan noise is not completely gone. 

this laptop is for light use only, any slightest workload "WHEN hooked up to an additional monitor" + Microsoft teams video call, 3-word documents, 2 webpages, this laptop cannot handle. It runs however fans rev up and won't stop until we close a few applications or disconnect additional monitor. 

I think its the quick charging or charging which using additional display via display USB-C. Not much was done during the testing phase. 

I hear dell XPS's and some other laptops rev fans too, however only when there is significant load, not just basic office work.

Example: I had sticky notes, 1 webpage, and a TEMAS interview video call: Laptop fans did not stop revving at max speed until the end of the interview and I closed all applications. 

For this time there is nothing more I want to do - there is no fix for this, so i will have to s*C* it up and make a better decision next time. 

Edit:28 Oct 2020

Nothing changed its still overheats when plugged to an external display. Fans still rev high when on Microsot teams meeting or charging. Laptop battery looks like it gave up (3 to 5 hour max) on light use. What a shame this issue is not getting enough attention. 

Edit: 28 Aug 2020 

No change - Laptop still goes crazy when plugged to an additional screen

All Microsoft Stores are temporarily closed until further notice. So I have to escalate this again to Microsoft


Edit: 17 Apr 2020

The issue still continues, Couldn't attend MS Store because of COVID lockdowns.

At this stage im hoping they can fix this via software patch. However, after research, this has been a problem for a few MS products (charging, especially fast charging) 


Edit: 21 Jan 2020

Still did not go to Microsoft store. With this COVID 19 going on, working from home most of the time.

I will give away my laptop to the store soon to test. 

Biggest change I noticed.  Battery is being effected. When ever the laptop is hot during couple of hours of work connected to dock.... remove from the dock....u get 3 hours or so max on full battery... guessing due to excessive heat I guess. 

I tried multiple times charging with power adapter. Works fine without issues, no heat, battery lasts longer a little. Daily heating issue is causing battery to deterioate quickly 


Surface Laptop 3 - 13inch, i5, 8GB, 256GB SSD.

Surface laptop overheating on every charge - even with no applications running. Brand new laptop, room temperature is under 21 C. After plugging in the charger, if you listen closely near the exhaust vents - there is a faint static electric noise, not to mention is scary as i don't want to use this anywhere close to me. 

Laptop has already been replaced with a new one, still same issue. With some research a lot of people are experiencing the same issue. Any solution for this ?????

Surface | Surface Laptop | Power and battery

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-02-06T19:09:34+00:00

    Is anyone a lawyer here? maybe we can start a petition to force them to recall the laptops.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-02-06T16:49:56+00:00

    I wish there was a class action lawsuit as well. I've had the same problem since I purchased this laptop (among other small issues, like it randomly shutting off for no reason), but due to the pandemic the stores were never open in my area. And now my warranty is up with no solution. 

    My workaround is to always keep my laptop on a desk surface (never in a lap, never on a soft surface), and always keep it at the "best battery life" setting. But it's not really a fix, and my machine doesn't perform the way it was advertised.

    $3000 dollars (CAD) is no big deal to Microsoft, but it's a big deal to me. For the price, the build quality is horrible. I won't ever buy one of their laptops again.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-06T05:05:33+00:00

    I have the same problem for a whole year now. Should have known this is a bad product from the beginning. I thought updates will fix it and if it didn't, I would go to the Microsoft store. 

    I returned a much better Asus product thinking Microsoft has stores and it would be easy to get replacement products if I have issues.....

    And then Microsoft decided to just close them all :) 

    There should be a lawsuit as I truly feel lied to and betrayed. They sold me a product with the promise of their physical backing. Then they just pack up overnight. Leaving us with the faulty equipment. 

    My laptop is the 15inch with AMD CPU.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-02-02T07:22:03+00:00

    Hi Johannes

    Thanks for the Tip.

    I've tried it for almost a day now with the Battery Limit Mode on + external monitor + charger on. The fan kicks in once awhile, but the temperature is manageable. No problem with SL3 performance. I guess this would be ideal during this Work From Home period. Once the pandemic over, i would need my battery back at 100%. :-) 

    Cheers.

    Hanif

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-02-01T21:49:58+00:00

    Have you tried this:

    Keep your external Monitor connected with your SL3 AND keep your SL3 connected with your charging cable all the time AND enable the Battery Limit Mode in Surface UEFI.

    I had the same thing with my SL3 (the temperatures and fan noises). Now my SL3 is always charged but because of the Battery Limit the battery does not get damaged that much over time. My SL3 basically keeps the 50% battery status. In the past it only became hot and noisy when I charged the battery from 0-100% while my external monitor was plugged in.

    Grüße/Regards

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