Microsoft Releases Surface Pro 3 Firmware Update to Address Battery Issues

Today, Microsoft issued a new firmware update for Surface Pro 3 that is clearly aimed at fixing the battery life issues that recently came to light. There’s no official word yet from Microsoft, but I’ve heard from multiple users that this fix has solved their problems.

So if you own a Surface Pro 3, it’s time to check for updates.

Today’s update is identified only as System Firmware Update – 8/29/2016. There’s no word yet what this does, as the Surface Pro 3 update history web site remains non-updated. UPDATE: Microsoft has issued a statement. See below.

So I’ll update this post when I know more. For now, I’ll just note that Microsoft promised a fix for this issue 10 days ago.

“We heard your feedback on [Surface Pro 3] battery,” Microsoft’s Panos Panay tweeted at the time. “Confirmed we can address with a software update and we’re testing a fix now.”

This fix comes almost two months after the battery life issues first came to light, with a Microsoft Answers forum swelling with complaints in early July. Reported issues range from battery degradation—where the battery life is just a small percentage of its previous lasting power—to complete failure, where the devices simply won’t power on unless attached to power.

Microsoft first acknowledged that they were investigating the issue over a month ago, and said it suspected that a software fix would make things right.

This could be it. Stay tuned.

UPDATE

This is it. 🙂 And Microsoft has posted a Surface Pro 3 Battery FAQ for the 8/29/2016 System Firmware Update page to answer some common questions.

“A limited number of Surface Pro 3 owners find that their battery can no longer hold a charge, and it looks like the battery capacity has diminished,” Microsoft explains. With the power plugged in, the Surface Pro 3 is fine, but the battery will run out quickly once it’s not being charged. On a limited number of Surface Pro 3 devices, an error condition occurs that causes the full charge capacity of the battery to be misreported to the operating system and device firmware. When this condition occurs, the system no longer charges the battery to its full actual capacity, and the Surface is unable to function on battery power.”

The fix, Microsoft says, corrects the logic in the firmware component that functions as the “fuel gauge” for the Surface Pro 3 battery, so that the actual battery capacity on devices with this particular part is accurately reported. This allows the Surface to once again leverage the maximum charge capacity of the battery.

If you’re worried about getting paid back on an out of warranty repair or other issues surrounding this problem, be sure to check out the FAQ.