Surface Book Battery Drain while Powered Off

Question

Hello All,

I wanted to share my experience with the constant battery issues on my Surface Book. I originally purchased the Surface Book back in November of 2016. I got the i5/256/DGPU version. I've realized when the Surface book is fully charged at 100% and when the Surface book is powered off the batteries drain on their own. I started to observe the behavior for a few months and consistently has gotten worse. I finally reached out to Microsoft support and they agreed the device was defective. They ended up replacing the laptop and yet again I'm observing the same issue. I can have the laptop charged to 100%. Shut down the Surface Book and leave it off and in about 24 hours 4% is drained leaving it at 96% upon boot up. The longer it is powered off the charged battery % continues to slowly discharge. I can't understand why it would discharge if it is powered completely off.

I reached out to Microsoft tech support again and they agree that the replacement unit is also defective. At this point being furious that I am I asked that my case be escalated. All Windows updates and firmware have had been applied to both affected systems. Could it be the hardware combo causing this issue?

Answer 1

I have the same issue with my laptop. It seems like its a design/hardware issue since all of us have had the exact same problem. I wonder what percentage of Surface Books are affected and encounter this battery drain.

I mean it's an issue that is only noticeable if you're paying close attention so I'd imagine a lot of Surface Book owners don't even realize they're laptops are defective.

I mean who knows, Microsoft could know they have a hardware/design flaw in many of their Surface Books and are chosing to keep it under wraps so as to not have to replace everyones device. Which department at MS did you contact to go about replacing your laptop?

I think I may actually look into this and see if its a common issue. If it is I smell class action lawsuit.

Answer 2

I've contacted the Answer desk again today and didn't receive a response from my escalation I've requested. All they did was reinstall the system drivers and firmware which was already performed. It is either bad hardware or bad firmware causing this power drain/parasitic power draw while the Surface Book is powered off.

Answer 3

Same issue here.

I notice that if I undock the tablet from keyboard after shutdown the power drain is significantly less, so if I'm going to be leaving it unused for a few days I separate the tablet and keyboard.  It's not ideal as both then become vulnerable to knocks and bumps., but at least I'll have enough juice to get some work done when I next power up, which isn't the case if I leave it docked.

Answer 4

Yea, the resolution was I forced microsoftstore.com to accept the return for a full refund including tax & shipping.

Microsoft escalations didn't care after I served them with a Notice of Dispute.

Answer 5

Have tech support gotten back to you with a resolution yet? Mine suffers the same battery drain even when completely shutdown. Only reason why I haven't brought it back to the MS store yet is because I don't want them to give me the same answer as they did you which would completely waste everyone's time :)