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
    2021-11-13T16:38:46+00:00

    same issue here. and i got this laptop replaced this is my 2nd one and my laptop gets so hot that the rubbers burn off from the bottom.

    Microsoft company support is not the greatest your better off getting a mac, if you dont use pc applications.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-10-05T21:42:12+00:00

    After so many hours of research, reset, and much effort found the solution. The below link will solve this issue

    Surface Laptop fan is loud and running constantly (thewindowsclub.com)

    Particularly refer below

    First, we must open the Control Panel by searching for the name via the search section. Once it comes up, select it, then navigate to Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Edit Plan Settings. From there, click on Change advanced power settings, and from the window that pops up, look for Processor Power Management, then Maximum Processor Rate.

    Edit the plugged-in section from 100 percent to 90 percent. Hit Apply, then OK, and see if the fans are now running normally.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-09-17T14:26:23+00:00

    There is already a video on how to apply it: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/eskpgd/liquid\_metal\_on\_surface\_laptop\_3/

    Liquid Metal is Galium with some additives to keep it liquid in room temperature.

    I used Thermal Grizzlies conductonaut on mine.

    Make shure to find some information on how to deal with it before you use it since shortening some components will cause you PC to die.

    The entire procedure is at your own risk.

    It turned out, that the overheating is not only due to inadequate cooling of the CPU but also caused by the Power Delivery controler on the upper-left and lower right of the mainboard overheating. I used thermalpads between the copper cooler and the meltal shielding to overcome this problem.

    Its a shame that Microsoft didn't do this in the very beginning. I think this helped even more then the liquid metal, so make shure to try this first before you mess with it.

    Now, the laptop runs nice and cool. Overheating only happens if I push it to 100% CPU for more then a minute.

    I also realized, that the Powerlimits were jumping around for no(?) reason. I used Throttlestop to set them higher.

    I might make a youtube videos in the upcomming days to further describing what I did.

    I hope, this helps you resolving the groblem - good luck! :)

    EDIT:

    See: https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/pq2bbk/fixed\_surface\_laptop\_3\_overheating\_issue/

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-09-17T13:43:27+00:00

    Hi YannikB97,

    I have no idea what liquid metal is.

    Where did you buy "Liquid Metal" ?

    How is it applied or added to the computer ?

    Thanks for you help ..... I have been having this overheating issue for a VERY VERY LONG TIME

    Carlos

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-09-16T08:57:39+00:00

    I used liquid metal on mine and temps have gotten much better.

    Now, they stay below 60C most of the time and it doesnt throttle anymore.

    Performance should have been like that right from the start for this price ..

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