Have I fried my SP4Pro battery?

[nzmike]

Hi all, hope someone can help me here.

About a month ago my SP4 (about two years old) stopped charging – the taskbar icon says "plugged in, not charging" and the battery has no charge whatsoever (if I remove the power it immediately turns off). Previous to that battery life wasn't great but definitely not terrible (I could get 4-5 hours out of it if not playing video or 2-3 hours if playing video).

I have done all the recommended fixes – reinstall/update/disable/enable battery drivers, cleaned the pins, applied latest MS firmware, done a two finger reset – all with no change. Googling a bit more led me to find the Powershell command to generate a battery report and having done that I can see that it's reporting the capacity to be -1mWh which I guess means it's completely dead. More disturbing, in the "Battery capacity history" section I can see the following entries:


Charge capacity history of the system's batteries
PERIOD FULL CHARGE CAPACITY DESIGN CAPACITY
2018-08-13 – 2018-08-20 32,386 mWh 38,152 mWh
...etc...
2018-10-08 – 2018-10-15 32,373 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-10-22 – 2018-10-29 32,280 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-10-29 – 2018-11-05 418,898,758 mWh 418,904,058 mWh <== ?!?!?!?
2018-11-05 – 2018-11-12 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-12 – 2018-11-19 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-19 – 2018-11-26 -1 mWh -1 mWh
...all further entries same as above...

So it looks like sometime between the 29th Oct and 5th Nov something caused the battery to massively spike the capacity to 418 million(!!!) mWh so I'm assuming this means my SP4 had a power surge while plugged in which has fried the battery or it's connectors - could this be correct?

I do also believe it could be related to a BSOD and complete loss of Windows 10 Pro around the same time (I had to do a fresh install) and have a feeling whatever caused my system meltdown could have caused this as well. When plugged in the SP4 operates normally and I am having no other issues that I know of except the seemingly dead battery.

The full battery report is below but am interested to see what anyone thinks - if this is a spike and has rendered the SP4 unrepairable or inoperative on battery I will try to claim it on my insurance.

TIA,

Mike

Battery report
===============

SYSTEM PRODUCT NAME Microsoft Corporation Surface Pro 4
BIOS 108.2318.769 08/14/2018
OS BUILD 17134.1.amd64fre.rs4_release.180410-1804
PLATFORM ROLE Slate
CONNECTED STANDBY Supported
REPORT TIME 2018-12-08 08:31:33


Installed batteries


Information about each currently installed battery
BATTERY 1
NAME -
MANUFACTURER -
SERIAL NUMBER -
CHEMISTRY -
DESIGN CAPACITY -1 mWh
FULL CHARGE CAPACITY -1 mWh
CYCLE COUNT -

Recent usage


Power states over the last 3 days
START TIME STATE SOURCE CAPACITY REMAINING
2018-12-05 09:27:00 Active AC - -
18:59:15 Connected standby AC - -
19:44:25 Active AC - -
19:44:57 Connected standby AC - -
19:57:11 Active AC - -
19:58:14 Connected standby AC - -
2018-12-06 19:13:07 Active AC - -
19:14:21 Connected standby AC - -
20:18:23 Active AC - -
20:19:06 Connected standby AC - -
20:23:23 Active AC - -
20:24:16 Connected standby AC - -
20:24:27 Active AC - -
20:24:59 Connected standby AC - -
20:25:40 Active AC - -
20:26:33 Connected standby AC - -
20:32:24 Active AC - -
20:33:02 Connected standby AC - -
21:14:45 Active AC - -
2018-12-07 22:15:22 Connected standby AC - -
2018-12-08 07:54:25 Active AC - -
07:59:58 Battery changed AC - -
07:59:58 Active AC - -
08:05:00 Suspended - -
08:06:41 Battery changed AC - -
08:06:41 Active AC - -
08:09:53 Suspended - -
08:10:53 Active AC - -
08:20:47 Battery changed AC - -
08:20:47 Suspended - -
08:30:28 Active AC - -
08:31:33 Report generated AC - -


Battery usage


Battery drains over the last 3 days
START TIME STATE DURATION ENERGY DRAINED
- - - - -


Usage history


History of system usage on AC and battery
BATTERY DURATION AC DURATION
PERIOD ACTIVE CONNECTED STANDBY ACTIVE CONNECTED STANDBY
2018-08-13 – 2018-08-20 0:00:11 0:00:29 6:02:34 69:20:40
2018-08-20 – 2018-08-27 - 0:00:01 12:53:19 154:31:25
2018-08-27 – 2018-09-03 0:03:44 0:14:21 18:01:54 147:50:19
2018-09-03 – 2018-09-10 0:08:00 9:15:40 6:32:22 132:16:14
2018-09-10 – 2018-09-17 - 0:00:02 - -
2018-09-17 – 2018-09-24 - - 4:17:04 153:57:43
2018-09-24 – 2018-10-01 0:41:43 4:46:36 8:45:38 232:39:35
2018-10-01 – 2018-10-08 - - 8:25:18 159:19:25
2018-10-08 – 2018-10-15 - - 0:03:07 149:29:58
2018-10-15 – 2018-10-22 - - 0:10:26 121:56:55
2018-10-22 – 2018-10-29 - - - -
2018-10-29 – 2018-11-05 - - 22:44:53 25:52:04
2018-11-05 – 2018-11-12 - - 135:41:38 31:05:06
2018-11-12 – 2018-11-19 - - - 142:21:15
2018-11-19 – 2018-11-26 - - 90:51:36 45:32:09
2018-11-26 - - - 23:59:47
2018-11-27 - - - 23:59:51
2018-11-28 - - - 23:59:53
2018-11-29 - - 1:11:58 22:47:52
2018-11-30 - - - 23:59:53
2018-12-01 - - 0:02:50 23:57:03
2018-12-02 - - 3:54:54 20:04:32
2018-12-03 - - 18:26:25 5:33:17
2018-12-04 - - 0:04:51 23:54:52
2018-12-05 - - 11:17:11 12:42:21
2018-12-06 - - 2:50:01 21:09:39
2018-12-07 - - 22:15:00 1:44:36


Battery capacity history


Charge capacity history of the system's batteries
PERIOD FULL CHARGE CAPACITY DESIGN CAPACITY
2018-08-13 – 2018-08-20 32,386 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-08-20 – 2018-08-27 30,967 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-08-27 – 2018-09-03 32,836 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-09-03 – 2018-09-10 32,169 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-09-10 – 2018-09-17 31,957 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-09-17 – 2018-09-24 32,416 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-09-24 – 2018-10-01 32,499 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-10-01 – 2018-10-08 32,677 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-10-08 – 2018-10-15 32,373 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-10-15 – 2018-10-22 32,280 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-10-22 – 2018-10-29 32,280 mWh 38,152 mWh
2018-10-29 – 2018-11-05 418,898,758 mWh 418,904,058 mWh
2018-11-05 – 2018-11-12 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-12 – 2018-11-19 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-19 – 2018-11-26 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-26 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-27 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-28 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-29 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-11-30 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-12-01 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-12-02 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-12-03 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-12-04 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-12-05 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-12-06 -1 mWh -1 mWh
2018-12-07 -1 mWh -1 mWh


Battery life estimates


Battery life estimates based on observed drains
AT FULL CHARGE AT DESIGN CAPACITY
PERIOD ACTIVE CONNECTED STANDBY ACTIVE CONNECTED STANDBY
2018-08-13 – 2018-08-20 - - - -
2018-08-20 – 2018-08-27 - - - -
2018-08-27 – 2018-09-03 - - - -
2018-09-03 – 2018-09-10 3:13:47
80:44:14
20 % / 16 h 3:49:49
95:45:12
17 % / 16 h
2018-09-10 – 2018-09-17 -
0:00:34
169412 % / 16 h -
0:00:41
140488 % / 16 h
2018-09-17 – 2018-09-24 - - - -
2018-09-24 – 2018-10-01 3:47:05
58:58:50
27 % / 16 h 4:26:35
69:14:23
23 % / 16 h
2018-10-01 – 2018-10-08 - - - -
2018-10-08 – 2018-10-15 - - - -
2018-10-15 – 2018-10-22 - - - -
2018-10-22 – 2018-10-29 - - - -
2018-10-29 – 2018-11-05 - - - -
2018-11-05 – 2018-11-12 - - - -
2018-11-12 – 2018-11-19 - - - -
2018-11-19 – 2018-11-26 - - - -
2018-11-26 - - - -
2018-11-27 - - - -
2018-11-28 - - - -
2018-11-29 - - - -
2018-11-30 - - - -
2018-12-01 - - - -
2018-12-02 - - - -
2018-12-03 - - - -
2018-12-04 - - - -
2018-12-05 - - - -
2018-12-06 - - - -
2018-12-07 - - - -


Current estimate of battery life based on all observed drains since OS
install
Since OS install - - - -

 

[sharpuser]

Hello, @nzmike

Is there a chance you had a lightning strike, or a power strip failure, a known short or breaker popping in your power supply, or power outages? Any of those things could have had a transient spike enter your computer, especially if it was near an improperly grounded electricity supply.

That being said, water damage must be considered also. If you have had no moisture damage, then your battery either prematurely expired, or the above power spike could have been the issue.

Power spikes are sometimes revealed by wireless devices in the home losing programming - such as remote light switches, remote controls, wireless doorbells, etc.

 

[nzmike]

Well there is a chance of a powerspike anywhere at any time - I was more asking if anyone could verify that the strange battery report would definitely indicate a power spike.

No matter what happens this will be the last surface device I ever buy - to not have some sensible or accessable wayto replace the battery and expecting people just to pay huge bucks for a new device is a consumer ripoff of the highest order.

And just to make it worse I posted this same question on the official MS surface forum and they deleted it - no reason why, they just deleted it. That's how much they care.

 

[sharpuser]

Sorry about this bad experience. Not typical of Surface.

 

[Wevenhuis]

It would be interesting to see the data with a batterylife monitoring app. I tried this on my lumia 1520. The device, after 4 years of trusted use, died quickly and suddenly once the battery reached 39 percent. I had likely reached a threshold charging cycles. It was clear to see a sharp drop in battery life in the monitor app from 39 percent. at 20-30% I believe it just suddenly turend off. I had the battery replaced and it works great again. I did use the phone a lot over those 4 years under different conditions and loads. I can imagine the fate of a surface will be similar. I have note experienced it thus far on my surface pro 5 and two first gen surface pro devices. They are all still going strong. But I do not use them as intensive as my smartphone.
It's these times I realize the fragitlity of a non-replaceable battery and an ifixit score of 1/10 (= bad).

 

[nzmike]

That's pretty interesting re the 1520 battery - I also had a 1520 (as well as a bunch of other Windows Phones - RIP, we miss you) and replaced teh battery once but it never died on me like that.

Having posted this issue elsewhere and doing some googling it seems likely that it's not the battery that has died but rather some sort of internal damage that's stopping it charging. I have now called my insurance company and explained that it has somehow gotten damaged and they have agreed to replace it (all credit to them).

This will be my last Surface Pro though - from day one the battery life on my SP4 was disappointing and now with my local MS Store completely uninterested in helping me resolve this with a replacement unit (which I was happy to pay at least some money for) I will look for alternatives next time I actually buy a new device like this. I also wasn't aware of the iFixit repair scale to I'll check that out to see if there any similar devices I can buy instead.