Solved Surface Pro 3 won't power on, charging LED turns off

[Tom S]

Hello, unfortunately my first post is going to be one where I am requesting help.

I purchased a used surface pro 3 about 2 months ago, and up until today it had been working great. Well after I installed the update last night my tablet would never come out of sleep mode. I was able to get it to boot once earlier by doing the 2 button reset procedure, but now that's not working. Tablet recognizes the charger, however the charging LED turns off when I push the power button. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[sharpuser]

Hi, @Tom S ,

Welcome to the forum. Sorry about the issue with your SPro3.

Sometimes the charger is too smart for its own good. The battery may be low- too low to properly process the charging logic, so the charger shuts down. When some owners have encountered this, they have found that using a cheap charger not OEM) for about 5 minutes solves the problem, allowing the regular charger to finish the job.

But if you don't have access to borrowing an alternate charger, even for a few minutes, let's try a few things:

1. Repeatedly connect and disconnect the charger from the brick end, not the blade connector. You may have to do this more than a hundred times. This way, a tiny bit of charge each time makes it to the Surface battery, until the logic can recover.

2. Press and hold the power button, while connecting the charger. This also may trick the logic into proper charging. Try repeatedly.

3. Press and release power button and Volume Up button together rapidly/randomly. Again, a trick.

Let us know...

 

[Tom S]

No luck unfortunately . I know the battery is charged, when I was able to get it to come on yesterday I was able to check, it was above 90%. Tried connecting/disconnecting charger while pushing power button, and pushing the power and + button a bunch of different ways.

Thanks for the help!

 

[sharpuser]

Okay.

Now try connecting a new device, such as SD card or USB, or disconnecting/re-attaching the keyboard, while trying the power button. May wake up from a coma ...

 

[Tom S]

Okay.

Now try connecting a new device, such as SD card or USB, or disconnecting/re-attaching the keyboard, while trying the power button. May wake up from a coma ...

Once again, no luck. I tried with the keyboard and a USB stick. Keyboard backlight will flash for a split second, then turn off. I fear my device may be permanently bricked unfortunately. I'm hoping the battery may drain enough so it looses power and resets at this point.

 

[jnjroach]

This will sound strange but it does work for surface pro 3 devices that do this....

Plug it in... Then use something to tape the power button down and usually within 24-48 hours it will power back up.

We had to do this with my wife's SP3 twice.

 

[Tom S]

Hey, at this point I'll try anything.

 

[GreyFox7]

Hey, at this point I'll try anything.

Stand on one foot, hold the opposite hand in the air with index finger pointing to the sky, rub your tummy with the other hand and say three times: There's no device like the Surface Pro 3. Then with both feet planted on the ground shoulder width apart place both hands on the SP3 holding it 12 inches in front of you and shout, "turn on damnit". Best of luck

 

[Tom S]

Hey, if that method would actually work I'd be more than happy to do it. I just can't believe it just quit working all together. Up until yesterday it was working perfect. Going to try taping the power button though, got nothing to loose.

 

[sharpuser]

You may need to rest the SPro3 upside down on some small pencil or other item which uses the computer weight to depress the button. Should work without tape.

 

[Tom S]

Well I'm a little shocked myself, but taping the power button down overnight fixed it. I plugged it in this morning, and I saw that the charging LED was staying on even with the button constantly pressed. I pulled the tape off with it connected to the charger, pushed the power button, and it turned right on. Can't replicate symptoms too fortunately.

So thanks for the help everyone! I am overjoyed that this came back to life

 

[sharpuser]

Excellent. Thanks to @jnjroach . Marking solved.