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Surface Book 2 Battery Help

Blumarln

New Member
Please help... Out of the blue one day, the keyboard battery on my surface book 2 would not charge. I have tried 2 replacement batteries from Amazon and both show 0% when installed and neither the keyboard, nor screen battery will charge while plugged in. I've tried 3 chargers, including USB-C and no change. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the batteries in device manager, still no change. The screen will charge when separated, but not while on the base, but it did before with the original battery. Really odd thing is that I know the replacement keyboard battery has some charge because the keyboard works when not plugged in and I can read voltage on a multimeter, even though it says 0%. What could this be, Keyboard logic board?
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sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
Check connectors and ports.

A very similar thing happened to me with my Surface Book 3 a few years ago. Turned out a shred of metallic debris (tiny shaving) found it’s way to the connector slot on the Surface. Because of the magnetic connector, the port became magnetic enough to draw in debris. I used a very bright flashlight and a plastic knife to see and clean the port.

This had me stumped for over two weeks. After even clean-installing Windows, I could not solve the problem. Turned out to be this simple.
 
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Blumarln

New Member
Thanks for the quick reply, unfortunately that didn't work. I checked/cleaned the port, and didn't see/remove anything. Even so, I don't think debris in the magnetic port would affect USB-C charging which died at the same time as the mag port. Both ways "sustains" what I have as far as charge goes, but won't increase charge level in either battery.

What I have been thinking is that I have 2 issues, a bad logic board &/or knock off batteries. Perhaps the board went bad which is why it suddenly stopped charging the batteries, and possibly the machine doesn't play nice with aftermarket batteries hence why it sees them as having zero charge. I also can't really calibrate the keyboard battery because the machine drains the screen before the keyboard dies. Does this make sense?
 

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
... I also can't really calibrate the keyboard battery because the machine drains the screen before the keyboard dies. Does this make sense?
Yes, this makes sense.

I think you are probably on the right track diagnosing the problem. Aftermarket batteries (and how they charge) may be the reason for the board going bad.

It is sad hearing about a Surface Book going bad. And scary. I depend upon two Surface Book 2 15" units, which have been going strong for years now.
 
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