No battery detected - red x on charge icon

[rossc007]

Hey Guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

So I made the leap and picked up the surface 3 on Friday, when I got home I plugged in the power source and did the setup with no issues. However, I noticed that the charge icon had a red x so on hover over it said "No Battery Detected". I unplugged the power source to see if it was a hardware issue and the device still had power. So I thought it might be a firmware issue, downloaded all the updates, still the same. On top of that, the battery does seem to be discharging really quickly.

Anyone else experiencing this kind of thing? I think I'll just bring it back and do an exchange.

Cheers
Ross

 

[Bandito]

This sounds like a very unusual problem and I, too, would attempt to exchange it. But first, it would probably be worth contacting Microsoft Surface support to see if there's anything that they can do.

Good luck!

 

[DanL]

Welcome Ross. Where did you buy it? I would just do an exchange ASAP. No reason to deal with that on a brand new SPro3.

 

[rossc007]

Thanks for the replies. Bought it in Best Buy in Manhattan, going to bring it back to a different Best Buy today, hopefully its a straight forward swap.

 

[DanL]

You shouldn't have any problems there. BB is usually pretty good about exchanges especially inside the 30 day window.

 

[rossc007]

Change was pretty simple, enjoying my working Surface pro immensely!

 

[innotech]

I got my SP3 on its release day from BB. I now have everything in the world installed on it...took several days. This morning I was using it with about 70% battery. BLINK...it simply shut off. I plugged it in and turned it back on...red "X" and "No battery is detected" tooltip when I hover over the icon. Swapping it out is going to be a HUGE effort...I'll need to uninstall many pieces of software to unlicensed them...then reinstall...I was just starting to really enjoy this device and it has indeed replaced my desktop and my Surface 2 (RT)...

Now that it has replaced everything...I think it's battery has quit on me. Now I have an SP3 that needs to be plugged in at all times...
Think I'll start uninstalling and head to BB...

 

[malberttoo]

Bummer! TrueImage (http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/pc-backup/) has a free trial period. Just make an image of your SP3 onto an external hard drive. When you get the new SP3, put that image into the new unit. Since you'll be getting an identical hardware replacement, it should work pretty well! No need to uninstall or re install anything at that point.

 

[leeshor]

Or, you could create a file and settings img, or even a full backup from within Win8

 

[malberttoo]

Or, you could create a file and settings img, or even a full backup from within Win8

Better idea. I've been using TrueImage for so long, I hadn't even thought about Windows Backup. But that's the way to go!

 

[phositadc]

Well, I bought an SP3 today at the Microsoft Store. Plugged in, went through the routine setup, and immediately noticed the red X over the battery and the popup window that says "Battery not detected."

What a buzz kill. Did anybody ever solve this problem, or is the solution to do an exchange?

Edit: Update: I read somewhere that booting into the BIOS and then rebooting can fix the problem, and sure enough it did. Now my battery says "0% available (plugged in, charging)."

I can't imagine that sitting completely dead on 0% for who knows how long was good for the battery, so I'm probably going to exchange it anyways. But I'll keep this unit for a few days and make sure I want to keep the SP3 first, because I guess there's always a chance that I'll decide I can't get used to the form factor.

 

[Liam2349]

Well, I bought an SP3 today at the Microsoft Store. Plugged in, went through the routine setup, and immediately noticed the red X over the battery and the popup window that says "Battery not detected."

What a buzz kill. Did anybody ever solve this problem, or is the solution to do an exchange?

Edit: Update: I read somewhere that booting into the BIOS and then rebooting can fix the problem, and sure enough it did. Now my battery says "0% available (plugged in, charging)."

I can't imagine that sitting completely dead on 0% for who knows how long was good for the battery, so I'm probably going to exchange it anyways. But I'll keep this unit for a few days and make sure I want to keep the SP3 first, because I guess there's always a chance that I'll decide I can't get used to the form factor.

Honestly I would exchange it anyway. A poor battery could ruin your experience, it could put you off the other features.