Surface 65W power supply becoming very hot and shutting down

Question

Hi!

The 65W power supply that came with my Surface has been experiencing an issue where, after a few hours of using the Surface for video games, the brick becomes extremely hot (I don't have exact measurements, but it's painful to touch even for a few seconds) and stops transferring power. I am usually using it to power both my Surface and an external set of cooling fans (using the USB-C port on the brick), since it gets too hot otherwise. Unplugging the C8 connector, waiting a few minutes, and plugging it back in consistently restarts the power, but I am worried that it's shutting itself down due to overheating dangers and I'm overriding that. It does not noticeably cool down while unplugged.

Does anyone know what's going on here and whether "rebooting" the brick is a safe way of dealing with it? Is it having issues with me using both the main Surface charging cord and the USB-C port on the brick at once? Thanks!

(Sorry for the inaccurate topic listing - there doesn't seem to be an option for Accessories - Power Supply.)

Answer 1

Hi Snowbird235,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. We're sorry for the trouble this has caused you. 

I'll be asking few questions on your end to isolate what is causing the issue.

May I know which Surface device did you use the 65W PSU for?

Is there any physical damage on the PSU cables?

What is the make and model of the external cooling fans you use?

Test it without connecting the external cooling fans and see if it makes any changes.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,

Lavenia

Answer 2

Thanks for the reply!

The laptop is a Surface Laptop Studio. There's no visible damage on the cables or on the brick. The cooling fans are this model. (I run it off the brick because it's easier than finding a USB-C to USB-A cable that will run power in the correct direction, and unlike my old laptop, this one doesn't have a USB-C port.)

Without the cooling fans, the brick doesn't have the same issues, but the laptop heats up instead. Since I actually use it on my lap, that's unpleasant.

Answer 3

You may also try these and let us know if it makes any changes.

1. Make sure power mode is on Recommended
2. control panel /power option /change plan setting/change advanced power setting /process power management
3. Set it to 95%

Without the cooling fans, the brick doesn't have the same issues, but the laptop heats up instead. Since I actually use it on my lap, that's unpleasant.

The heating on the power brick is because of the external cooling fans since it is constantly running both the device and the fans.

Answer 4

Make sure that the vents is well ventilated. The device may become very warm during normal use. It can be warm to the touch when an application/s  is consuming CPU resources, you can determine this by looking at task manager in the CPU column (sort by) to see if particular application is consuming the CPU. (a photo would be best)

You may also try these steps.

Check Windows Updates and run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit

Go to Settings >> Update and Security >> Windows updates >> Check for updates

SDT : Fix common Surface problems using the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit (microsoft.com)

Manually download drivers and firmware

Check what is the current OS Build of your Windows version. On the search box type Winver and run command.

Go to Download driver and firmware for Surface, choose Surface Laptop. Then click the link next to Surface Laptop Studio then click Download on the next page. Choose the .msi file that matches your current OS Build and click Next. After downloading, run and install the .msi then Restart. 

Additionally, check if adjusting the Power mode slider can help. Check https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026458/ for information.

Regards,

Lavenia

Answer 5

Even when the vents have good clearance (for example, if I leave them on the fan platform without plugging the fans in), they're just not enough to clear all the heat from a resource-intensive video game. The performance drops and it's uncomfortable to touch the area below the keyboard. While the brick does not overheat when the fans aren't turned on, the computer itself has these other issues. The computer is fully updated.

The game I'm playing is using much of the CPU space; even on minimum graphics settings, it is fairly resource-intensive. The Surface Studio is well over its minimum requirements, though.