Surface Battery 'TEMP' Fix AKA BATTERY DRAIN -S3, S4, S5, S6, SL1,2, SB1,2 Via Firmware 08.2019 - RETAIL PRODUCTION UNITS

Question

Surface Pro 4 + (Battery Fix) – Disable Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) 

If you are facing high battery utilization drainage, disable the above Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT).

*) What is SMT?

Overview and Impact

Simultaneous multithreading is a processor design that combines hardware multithreading with superscalar processor technology to allow multiple threads to issue instructions each cycle. Unlike other hardware multithreaded architectures (such as the Tera MTA), in which only a single hardware context (i.e., thread) is active on any given cycle, SMT permits all thread contexts to simultaneously compete for and share processor resources. Unlike conventional superscalar processors, which suffer from a lack of per-thread instruction-level parallelism, simultaneous multithreading uses multiple threads to compensate for low single-thread ILP. The performance consequence is significantly higher instruction throughput and program speedups on a variety of workloads that include commercial databases, web servers and scientific applications in both multiprogrammed and parallel environments.

Simultaneous multithreading has already had impact in both the academic and commercial communities. The project has produced numerous papers, most of which have been published in journals or the top, journal-quality architecture conferences, and one of which was the most recent paper selected for the 25th Anniversary Anthology of the International Symposium on Computer Architecture, a competition in which the criteria for acceptance was impact. The SMT project at the University of Washington has also spawned other university projects in simultaneous multithreading. Lastly, several U.S. chip manufacturers (Intel, IBM, Sun and Compaq (when it still supported the Alpha microprocessor line) have designed and manufactured SMT processors for the high-end desktop market. Several startups are also building SMT processors.

REF: https://dada.cs.washington.edu/smt/

*) If you also scroll down via the website above you'll notice that Intel Xeon is listed with the most up2date support for Surface via Device Manager @ Surface Update (Intel Xeon E3 -1200/1500 Series v5th/6th Gen Intel Core Gaussian Mixture Model - 1911 (Fuzzy)

*) What are the advantages and disadvantages of SMT

• Disadvantage = Due to per call via instruction sets via OS every process and processes are monitored and then inspected with integrity for safe processing of task per thread, which causes high battery utilization.
• Disadvantage = Low level execution of malicious software such as Spectre & Meltdown, etc. will be able to be executed in a sophisticated manner if per thread is not tested with integrity.
• Disadvantage = The current state of SMT is still a work in progress, not all CPUs by Intel and AMD are 100% proven to resolve and or mitigate on going issues via Mal-Software.
• Advantage = Fixes Surface Pro 3, 4, Surface Book 1, 2, Surface Laptop 1,2, if effected.
• Advantage = Normal behavior of Compute Unit.

Let me know if this fixes your issue with battery drain via Surface 3, 4 and etc.

\!--------------------------------Instructions Below---------------------------------------\

1. Power off machine.

2)Boot into UEFI / Firmware Power + Volume Up key 

3. Turn off SMT
4. Drain Battery until Surface unit turns off by itself not via command is needed
5. Repeat step 4.
6. After second battery drain for full re-calibration, power on unit and set your battery configuration to Better, while doing so generate a energy (not a battery report and see what is indicated as a High Warning and or error)
7. Go down the list of high and medium errors (If found) and fix one by one
8. drain the battery once more (Not Shutdown) and then plug-in Surface unit and use like normal.

9)Once the unit is fully charged at 100% switch back and forth between Best & Better performance and see the difference.

10. -(Optional, But for testing) Turn MST back on.  Generate both reports once again and compare.

10)If battery is still draining quick and or while it is shut off & turning it back on, then do a refresh and reinstall windows if needed.

11)  After all is well and battery seems to be okay, reboot and turn SMT back on & evaluate Surface unit as in step 10

For Enterprise Users, ask your Admin (Security Officer) on how to go about it, if it is safe to disable and meets compliancy for mobile operational usage.  

Before Disabling SMT with all up2date drivers and updates via 1903 build. 18362.387

After while having SMT disabled..

Answer 1

Toggling the 50% limit with restarts inbetween does nothing. I have seen this drain of ~ 1% per hour when shutdown below 50% as well so I don't think it's related. Nothing I do makes any difference, and in fact last night it was more like 1.5% per hour. 

I updated my recovered SP4 (was 1703) to 1903 with the new surface firmware that just got released as well  (I had tried it on insider preview before the recovery) and now the battery life itself is worse again. I'm draining fast just sitting here browsing and typing a little (about 1.5 hours of battery or 2 if I'm lucky).

Sigh I've wasted hours on this with no benefit at all. Thanks for the idea but I don't see this as being a reliable work around, at least not for me.

Seriously though MS support on these issues is beyond pathetic. Now they have a new generation and currently problems across all the older generations. Will their sales be impacted? Probably not with how things work these days, but it really should.

Answer 2

There is no need for...

1. Disabled "fast startup"
2. Disabled "connected standby" in the registry
3. Shutdown with cmd prompt "shutdown /s /f /t 0"

Besides the matter update everything and generate a energy report, not a battery report, type the following command via Powershell with administrative rights.

powercfg /energy 

The report can be found in c:\windows\system32\energy-report.html - 

-Cut & paste the file to the desktop and open with browser......

-Go down the list of high and medium errors (If found) and fix one by one

-Drain the battery once more (Not Shutdown) and then plug-in Surface unit and use like normal.

-Once the unit is fully charged at 100% switch back and forth between Best & Better performance and see the difference.

-Test...

-Then do the step again below if batter is still acting up.

1. Power off machine.
2. Boot into UEFI / Firmware Power + Volume Up key 
3. Turn off SMT
4. Drain Battery until Surface unit turns off by itself non other command is needed
5. Repeat step 4.
6. After second battery drain for full re-calibration, power on unit and set your battery configuration to Better, while doing so generate a energy (not a battery report and see what is indicated as a High Warning and or error)

I have generated an energy report, and have no errors, and just standard warnings.

When you say:

"-Drain the battery once more (Not Shutdown) and then plug-in Surface unit and use like normal."

What do you mean by "Not shutdown"? Do you mean don't drain it all the way until the surface turns itself off? If not then to what point?

As I said I already followed your direction except for what I just asked (I only drained until 50%). Do you mean to say that if it didn't work for me, that I should do it all yet again with the expectation that it suddenly stops draining in shutdown? SMT btw is still off and remains off (I never turned it back on after following your guide".

Answer 3

Sadly this did not work for me. Turned back off SMT and ran the battery to zero, and let it charge overnight to 100%. Then pulled the cord, the type cover, and let it sit in shutdown (I used shutdown via CMD) for 8 hours. Just turned it back on and it lost 11% battery.

Ugh, I'm really starting to hate my SP4. I don't think anything will be done, and I have no confidence paying for an out of warranty refurb will be any better.

To have a better understanding of your situation, follow the instructions below.  Step by Step:

1. Power off machine.

2)Boot into UEFI / Firmware Power + Volume Up key 

3. Turn off SMT
4. Drain Battery until Surface unit turns off by itself non other command is needed
5. Repeat step 4.
6. After second battery drain for full re-calibration, power on unit and set your battery configuration to Better, while doing so generate a energy (not a battery report and see what is indicated as a High Warning and or error)
7. Go down the list of high and medium errors (If found) and fix one by one
8. drain the battery once more (Not Shutdown) and then plug-in Surface unit and use like normal.

9)Once the unit is fully charged at 100% switch back and forth between Best & Better performance and see the difference.

10. -(Optional, But for testing) Turn MST back on.  Generate both reports once again and compare.

10)If battery is still draining quick and or while it is shut off & turning it back on, then do a refresh and reinstall windows if needed.

Ok thanks for the detailed steps! I wasn't quite sure about #8... I didn't drain it all the way, just around half.

I did not do 8 or 9, but here is what happened.

The battery life definitely appears to have returned to normal... when watching movies I get between 4 and 5 hours, and basically browsing isn't destroying my run time.... buuuuuut.

It still drains in shutdown.

I tried #10 and reinstalled the current SP4 recovery image (win10 v1703), and installed NOTHING else. Not a single update or anything, no internet connection even. Raw win10 install.

It still made zero difference, it drains when shutdown 1% per hour.

Along with this I tried with separate tests:

1. Disabled "fast startup"
2. Disabled "connected standby" in the registry
3. Shutdown with cmd prompt "shutdown /s /f /t 0"

None of them made any difference, always 1% per hour.

Any other ideas? This is driving me nuts, I'm stunned that his is possible for a 1800 euro device. It's my 4th replacement and now I'm out of warranty.

Answer 4

Sadly this did not work for me. Turned back off SMT and ran the battery to zero, and let it charge overnight to 100%. Then pulled the cord, the type cover, and let it sit in shutdown (I used shutdown via CMD) for 8 hours. Just turned it back on and it lost 11% battery.

Ugh, I'm really starting to hate my SP4. I don't think anything will be done, and I have no confidence paying for an out of warranty refurb will be any better.

To have a better understanding of your situation, follow the instructions below.  Step by Step:

1. Power off machine.

2)Boot into UEFI / Firmware Power + Volume Up key 

3. Turn off SMT
4. Drain Battery until Surface unit turns off by itself non other command is needed
5. Repeat step 4.
6. After second battery drain for full re-calibration, power on unit and set your battery configuration to Better, while doing so generate a energy (not a battery report and see what is indicated as a High Warning and or error)
7. Go down the list of high and medium errors (If found) and fix one by one
8. drain the battery once more (Not Shutdown) and then plug-in Surface unit and use like normal.

9)Once the unit is fully charged at 100% switch back and forth between Best & Better performance and see the difference.

10. -(Optional, But for testing) Turn MST back on.  Generate both reports once again and compare.

10)If battery is still draining quick and or while it is shut off & turning it back on, then do a refresh and reinstall windows if needed.

Answer 5

Sadly this did not work for me. Turned back off SMT and ran the battery to zero, and let it charge overnight to 100%. Then pulled the cord, the type cover, and let it sit in shutdown (I used shutdown via CMD) for 8 hours. Just turned it back on and it lost 11% battery.

Ugh, I'm really starting to hate my SP4. I don't think anything will be done, and I have no confidence paying for an out of warranty refurb will be any better.