Surface Book 2 battery draining in sleep

Question

Have been noticing my battery never seems as full as it should be when I turn my machine on, so I started looking into it. I also turned off the hibernate-after-3-hours behaviour to get a clearer picture of the problem. From some research, I thought it might be related to "NETWORKING IN STANDBY", which I turned off as well. But, it's still happening, and it's still happening bad.

Here's the report of running powercfg /sleepstudy:

https://i.imgur.com/3qCEkcL.png

That huge red line is me grabbing my computer off the charger, turning it on for 10 minutes or so, then closing the lid. It then "slept" until the battery was dead and it hibernated.

https://i.imgur.com/UYoywUW.png

https://i.imgur.com/xtr51lH.png

From everything I've read, I don't seem to have the same problems as others. My computer just drains itself every time it sleeps. I've gone back to hibernating after 10 minutes of sleep but that's not good enough long term. It's 2018, a $4000 laptop should be able to sleep.

I have the Surface Book 2 13.5" 512GB.

Answer 1

Hi Geleen,

One the best ways to get the most of your Surface is to make sure you have the latest features of Windows 10 installed. When you check for updates, your Surface will also search for the latest device drivers, which can also help improve your device performance.

To check for updates, select the Start button, and then go to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update, and select Check for updates.

Also, here are some tips you can do to extend your Surface battery life:

• Keep it cool. Surface is designed to work between 32°F and 95°F (or 0°C to 35°C). Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to high temperatures, so keep your Surface out of the sun and don’t leave it in a hot car.
• Once a month, recharge when it’s 10% or lower. You can recharge the battery whenever you want But, However, it’s best to let the battery run to below 10% at least once per month before you recharge it.
• Let Windows lend a hand. Windows can change some power settings for you automatically, so you don’t have to do it on your own. Select the Startbutton, and then select Settings > Update & security > Troubleshoot > Power > Run the troubleshooter.
• Optimize your background apps. Get the most out of your Surface battery by choosing which apps are okay to run in the background. Select the Start   button, then select Settings > System >Battery> Battery usage by app. You’ll see a list of apps and how much battery each one is using relatively. This can help you choose which apps to allow (the ones you care about most) versus which apps to disallow (the ones you care about least). Select an app from the list, and then clear the Let Windows decide when this app can run in the background check box. (Note that some apps can’t be changed.)
• Unplug your unused devices. If you have devices or accessories connected to your Surface that you don’t use, turn off your Surface, unplug the devices, and then turn your Surface back on.
• Restart your Surface. This can sometimes fix problems that can shorten battery life. Select the Start button, and then select Power> Restart.

If you would like me to provide additional advice, simply respond to this thread. I will get notified and I’ll reply to you as soon as I can.

Kind regards.

Answer 2

This response is not helpful. I also have a Microsoft Surface Book 2 that I purchased in 2018. I cannot use it as a laptop because the battery drains within 48 hours even when turned off. I am reading many accounts of multiple hardware returns with no fix to the problem. What is going on? Until this gets fixed convincingly I am forced to urge people NOT to buy this laptop. I find myself instead turning to a very old Dell laptop that can charge its battery and keep it charged.

Answer 3

I have the same problem with my surface book. I shut down my surface book 2 with 70% battery remaining. And when I power it up after a week, the battery was just 20%. So then I started observing if the laptop is losing charge even when shut down. And it indeed does loses charge at the rate of 5-10% every day even when shut down. This is ridiculous. Do we know any fix/workaround for this issue?

Answer 4

I have not heard or read any realistic solution except buy a dell dr mac.

Answer 5

There are a couple of things to note regarding your sleep study report.  It shows the system being dozed to hibernation due to reserve battery runs low.  Possibly because that battery is smaller than the main battery the numbers could be a little more sensitive to power drain.  But the mW drain number should be closer to 800 mW as opposed to 9,900 mW.

It appears the C3 state is not staying in Drips mode and using the power.  I believe the C states are processor states but not sure what it exactly means.  The "Internal_Blocker" is something I will have to look up, unless Kenneth knows.  On my Dell system, the C2-C3 active time is usually only 1 second, certainly not 6 hours.

So, are you leaving any software running on your system while it is in low power mode?  Have you made any changes to your system regarding how Modern Standby works in addition to the ones you already mentioned.   Any registry hacks been done?

Does your system come out of modern standby normally, such as calling Cortana or using a Bluetooth device/Pen, etc..

The link below is an older video from Microsoft so some setting locations and options have changed but it takes you through some of the easier troubleshooting process.  There is a video in the same area which goes into using a different utility to track down power usage, but I can't remember the name of the utility. 

https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Mechanics/Understanding-Surface-Power-Management-with-Modern-Standby-in-Windows-10

But it appears the normal power drainers are not at work on your system.  Such things as Windows Updates or other activities do not seem to be causing the problem, so I will direct my research on what might be happening during a C3 low power state.