Surface 3 Pro - Battery Drain in Sleep Mode

[kfrank]

Update - contacted Microsoft. The first question they asked was if the drivers were updated. I told them Windows Update was turned to automatic and that it said the machine was updated. They then asked me to check to make sure the battery driver was updated. I checked and found that there was a firmware update for the battery. My assumption was that the firmware updates were automatic with Windows Updates. Obviously not.

Updated the battery driver and will test again tonight.

 

[jnjroach]

Good news....

 

[Compusmurf]

Link to this battery driver update?

 

[kfrank]

Compusmurf - no link - sorry. I right-clicked on the battery in the device manager and clicked Update Driver Software, then clicked Search for Recommended... It found the driver and installed it.

Here's what the driver details look like now.

This update did help quite a bit. After two nights of testing, the battery is now draining about 1.5%/hour, which is around half of what it was before. I haven't made any other changes so far.

Plan now is to contact Microsoft support again and see if they have other ideas beyond mailing back the device for repair.

 

[Compusmurf]

well, shoot, already have that one. Thought it might have been something new, cool and better.

 

[kfrank]

Sorry to hear that. Microsoft told me that if that didn't work, to uninstall the battery in the device manager, then reinstall the driver.

 

[Compusmurf]

I think the dude is grasping at straws. There is a fairly well known issue with the device coming out of hibernation with SD and or realtek drivers. Could even be core acpi process. We aren't sure yet. It is all over the place if you do a google search. They fixed it before under 8.1 but not under win 10. I am holding out for a fix, but in short term, I just power off for now.

 

[kfrank]

I agree it's a known issue and hope they fix it soon. In the meantime, I'm looking for anything to improve the situation. I did find it interesting that the main resolution they suggested was mailing it in for service. Not sure what they could do.

Also, my business partner bought a Surface Pro 3 2 weeks before I did. His came with Windows 8 and he upgraded to 10 shortly after. Mine came pre-installed with 10. He doesn't have this issue. His battery drain overnight is almost zero.

 

[ilgrillo]

@kfrank may I ask you if the battery drain issue occurs also when the Surface is in Airplane Mode?

 

[kfrank]

It did still drain, although not as much, while in airplane mode. I honestly haven't checked it in a while. Between the battery driver fix, which reduced the drain, and now powering it down, I'm not as concerned with the issue. It would nice to have a permanent fix.

 

[kfrank]

Update - beyond the battery driver update, there have been several regular Windows updates since I last ran the sleep study report. I ran it over the weekend and the battery is now draining about a half percent per hour while in sleep mode, which is a dramatic improvement. No idea what to attribute it to other than updating the battery driver and waiting for Windows updates.

 

[leeshor]

Now you're in the ballpark.