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
    2020-01-21T19:04:21+00:00

    I tried replacing the laptop - same problem. You can try and let me know if that works, I may have to keep changing until I find a good one may be. 

    For testing i plugged in my work surface pro 2 years old model to the same dock I opened 4k you tube video, I'm on work VPN, almost exactly the same work load. = I did not hear any noise or had any overheating issues. Task manager shows 98% CPU. 87% RAM. It was slightly warm but handled it like a champ

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-01-26T09:40:16+00:00

    Hey,

    Just bought the surface laptop 3 i5 8GB 128 GB SSD from Singapore. I am facing the overheating issue while using the laptop normally, without it being on charge. Looking for help to diagnose this issue and possibly fix it because I am going back to university in India where there are no microsoft stores.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-26T09:47:19+00:00

    try to install and update all latest drivers. If the issue is still there, exchange a new laptop or try to ask for refund.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-01-28T08:08:30+00:00

    I tried something new today 

    I purchased a USB C to Display port adapter and plugged it - wont charge the laptop ofcourse bu the laptop did not start the fans immediately -

    TEST 1:

    i have a few apps open and few browsers (Outlook, Skype for business, Native mail client, MS Teams, 4 Chrome browsers, 1 Word, 1 Excel,) fans are still quiet - - by this time on Dock fans used to go on full crazy mode by now. (CPU:16%, MEM: 86%)

    TEST 2: 

    With all the above still open, now i tested a long 4k 3440*1440 youtube video on 34inch screen. - - - still no fans and laptop is now va little warm (very minor - no big deal for me) 

    May still use for extended time (3 to 4 hours) and see how it will cope

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-01-30T21:47:57+00:00

    Hi, I have the same problem with my new Microsoft 3 with AMD 5 chip. Can I install the latest Intel graphics drivers on AMD chip?

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