Samsung Ativ Tab 3 power button not working, device battery always at 0%

Anonymous

I am writing to you regarding a Samsung Ativ Tab 3 that I recently bought.

The item was purchased on 26-September-13, model no. is XE300TZC-K01AE. On 3-October-13 morning, I noticed that the screen was frozen and not unlocking when pressing the power button. After pressing the Windows button below the screen, the login screen came up and I was able to log in to Windows. On the home page, noticed that battery was at 0%, although there was about 45% charge around 7 hours back. I connected the charger, but the battery was drained by then and the device powered down. Though the charger was connected, the blue light was not on and also the device was not powering up. The charger was kept connected till 4 PM, but the device was still not powering up. After several calls and discussion with Samsung, the device was sent to a service center for repair and received on 10-Oct.

The device was working absolutely fine again, till yesterday evening. Again, the device froze and power key was not working and Windows button was used to unlock the screen after several attempts. Battery was showing 0% despite having 78% charge just fifteen minutes previously. On connecting the charger, battery charge was still at 0% but not increasing. Luckily this time the device did not shut down, but after 3 hrs of connecting the charger, battery has still been at 0%. I would like to know any suggestions to help solve this problem. I tried restarting the APC Battery Controller in Device Manager, but there was no improvement. I am also attaching results of the powercfg command.

Rgds,

Amrith

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Anonymous

2 days later....the solution seems to be to just keep it going & not plugged in til the battery empties (backing important stuff up meanwhile). From the fact that it took several days, I gather the "battery 0" warning is part of the misfunction. During this time you can sleep it manually w the "power off" control on the charms bar, being careful not to turn it off (cos then you wont know if the battery's emptied yet), and turn it on w the home key.

Once the battery is totally empty (no reponse of home key, little blue light by power button off), you plug it in and it works.

My guess is this explains what happened previously when I (& others I read) sent it for repair. By the time it got to the workshop the battery had emptied, so they plugged it in, found it worked, & returned it with a message like "you must have forgotten to charge it", missing the problem.

We'll see: if it's something that happens every few months, & is this easily solveable, it's not so bad. Particularly since one can still use it while waiting for the battery to empty.

Wonder if regularly letting the battery get to empty ever few months would prevent the phenomenon?

Be interested to hear what others found.

Rivka

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Anonymous

2014-09-16T18:37:06+00:00

Yes that's what I did.

UPDATE: Last night my mom suggested plugging my tablet it, stating that the battery may have died. I thought to myself 'how do I know if the battery died if IT WON'T TURN ON.' But Momma's always right. I plugged it in and the screen turned on, showing me that the battery was at 0%. I was able to fully charge it, run the updates, and now it's working normally (I'm using it to type right now and after to watch YouTube) :-)

In case anyone's wondering, my ATIV is only about 6 months old. This problem (not waking from sleep, then battery indicator says 0%) occurs every 5-6 weeks it seems. What I've learned is to give the tablet a break, either by attempting to turn it on and draining the battery. Or by leaving it alone for a day or two then charging it. (The latter is the hardest. I use it for EVERYTHING. So the last 40 hours were painful!)

I completely agree with you. Its an AWESOME device. But what in the world?!? Why does it keep happening??? I don't know what to do myself.

Fatal flaw INDEED!
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Anonymous

2014-09-16T17:48:22+00:00

Did you get it to fully empty then try plugging the charger? I use my cell to check if it's empty by seeing if it shows "charging" when connected (using micro to regular USB adapter, then connecting charger). So far w one exception it recovers when drained then connected. The problem is no way to get it examined in real time unless I take the day off and drive to the computer lab (1.5 hrs away), since with pickup too much time goes by and so it's drained & recovered by the time they get it.

A great lil gadget w a fatal flaw: what does one do now?

(Getting it replaced when it looks fine is unlikely...)

Sigh
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Anonymous

2014-09-15T17:19:02+00:00

I would have to agree with you.

Mine blacked out 2 days ago. I was able to wake it (using Nook cable to connect it to computer) then fully charge it. Then it blacked out again after I used it for about 15-30 mins. I put it to sleep and it didn't wake up. Now NOTHING will wake it up! Im all out of options. But I love my tablet SO MUCH! :'(
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Anonymous

2014-09-13T19:32:41+00:00

After Samsung claimed to have IDd the problem & fixed it (changing battery & screen connections) it was fine for 3 months, now again two epsodes of blackout. Seems to b a deeply buit flaw, and a major pain if it happens at a time when I need the computer now rather than having the time to empty battery & restart.

I'll try Samsung again tomorrow. Solution should be to replace it, but hard to convince them when it seems fine by the time it gets to repair shop...
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