Surface Pro 6 restarts with 75% battery level

[sharpuser]

When you power back on, if the battery level is reporting as low, check on how long it takes to report 100%. A suspicion is that the reporting (sensing) is unstable or incorrect immediately after restarting, but the battery level is actually higher than reported (sensed). This may be confirmed if it takes an unusually short time to charge up to 100%, as the reporting (sensing) becomes more stable and accurate.

 

[joeblow7777]

When you power back on, if the battery level is reporting as low, check on how long it takes to report 100%. A suspicion is that the reporting (sensing) is unstable or incorrect immediately after restarting, but the battery level is actually higher than reported (sensed). This may be confirmed if it takes an unusually short time to charge up to 100%, as the reporting (sensing) becomes more stable and accurate.

I thought of that as well. It appears to take about the expected time to charge to 100%. I still think it's likely that the software is not accurately detecting the charge. I don't see how it's physically possible for the battery to lose 25% of its charge while shutdown for even just 10 minutes! I couldn't make it discharge that fast under maximum load if I tried! And as far as I can tell, when it's off it's off. no heat, no noise, battery report shows no activity.

 

[Turbo4AWD]

Used the computer this morning. 100% power at boot up. Ran it down to 62% and put it to charge. Once I hit 100%, I shut the computer down again and left for 30 mins. Then came back and powered it back on. Powered up with 100%. I'm now leaning towards it being a sleep mode issue, but I already confirmed that after 100% charge and putting my device to sleep right away I power back up with MAYBE a 2-6% loss in power. I do have another 1903 update I can do, but I am guessing that Windows Update is offering me a beta test 1903 patch for a test build. I will decide if I want to install it later or wait until it's more of an official patch.

I have not been able to replicate this power drain issue unfortunately. Maybe it's limited to certain chips? Maybe different manufacturers were used for the same chip that regulates power on the device?

Otherwise, I'm leaning towards Sharpuser's theory of what's going on as that one seems very logical.

 

[Carolv]

I haven't seen this problem with my SP6, but while researching something else I did find this thread. People are reporting that the fix posted by Rory Lambert fixed the problem. Here is the link to the page:

LINK

 

[Turbo4AWD]

I haven't seen this problem with my SP6, but while researching something else I did find this thread. People are reporting that the fix posted by Rory Lambert fixed the problem. Here is the link to the page:

LINK

VERY interesting, but I'm more curious about the 10+ hour wait time. That may not be necessary? I wonder if anyone can test the method with maybe 2-3 hours max and see what happens. It sucks that this would result in a LOT of downtime for the user, but at least afterwards there is a chance that the issue is permanently FIXED!

Hopefully we hear back from people on here that have tried this fix to confirm if it worked or not! Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[leerandall]

I've deleted the drivers and I have it unplugged and powered down overnight now. Then tomorrow, I'll run the battery down to zero and charge it back up. I'll post back.

 

[leerandall]

I just completed the process, and I can confirm that after charging to 100%, the first shutdown while on battery came back up at 100% after about an hour. Before following the procedure, I only turned off for about a half hour and it came back up at 74%. So it looks promising so far. However, I'll feel more convinced that the procedure actually fixed the issue after I do a few more shutdowns/startups and see each of them remain at 100%. Tonight, I'll charge to 100% before going to bed, then take it off the charger overnight and see where it's at in the morning. I'll let you know.

 

[leerandall]

Okey doke. At a little past midnight last night, I unplugged the charging cord and verified that my battery level was at 100%, then simply closed up the keyboard cover, putting the SP6 to sleep for the night. At 10:30 this morning, I opened the keyboard cover and found that the SP6 had shut itself down overnight, so I pressed the power button and it booted up. I logged in and found my battery to still be at 100%. It's never come back up at 100% before, to the best of my recollection. I'm pleasantly surprised, and cautiously optimistic. I'll continue to monitor it over time, but it appears that this "fix" may have actually worked.

 

[sharpuser]

Okay great.

It appears that either the “fix” gave the battery itself a kick in the pants, or allowed the sensing hardware and software to more correctly assess the actual battery charge, and manage the recharging system.

Or both.

 

[tuchas]

Shutting off connected standby worked for me, but it would be nice to have it turned on and not have to deal with this issue.

 

[joeblow7777]

Shutting off connected standby worked for me, but it would be nice to have it turned on and not have to deal with this issue.

Were you experiencing power loss during sleep/standby or when your device was completely powered off? People see to be getting these two issues confused. The latter has nothing to do with connected standby because whether that feature is active or not the device can't be connected to anything when it is turned off.

 

[tuchas]

Were you experiencing power loss during sleep/standby or when your device was completely powered off? People see to be getting these two issues confused. The latter has nothing to do with connected standby because whether that feature is active or not the device can't be connected to anything when it is turned off.

Sorry - yeah I'm confused alright. I was having this issue with the battery when I shut down completely, and when I rebooted in the morning, I was at 75%. The thing that actually fixed THAT problem was disabling Fast Startup. I also have connected standby disabled, but perhaps I should experiment with that fix discussed above. My apologies, folks.