Microsoft has rolled out an update to the Surface Pro 3, bringing along a fix for some battery capacity woes some owners were experiencing. That's according to the latest information available on the Surface Pro 3 update tracker (via Neowin), which says a firmware update began rolling out on November 7 with the fix.
From Microsoft:
v38.11.50.0 corrects an error that may occur on a limited number of Surface Pro 3 devices where the full charge capacity of the battery is misreported to the operating system and device firmware. This update corrects the firmware component that functions as a "fuel gauge" so that the battery capacity is accurately reported. See Surface Pro 3 Battery FAQ for more information.
On Microsoft's dedicated FAW page for the problem, it describes the cause as an error condition that causes a fully charged battery to be misreported to the operating system. "When this condition occurs, the system no longer charges the battery to its full actual capacity, and the Surface is unable to function on battery power," Microsoft says.
This is the second such battery draining issue that Microsoft has recently had to fix on the Surface Pro 3. Previously, a specific subset of users with batteries manufactured by Simplo were experiencing a similar problem, but Microsoft fixed that issue with an update in August. Following that fix, users who had Surface Pro 3s equipped with batteries from another manufacturer, LGC, starting reporting issues. Hopefully this new update does indeed fix the issue for those users.
Have you received this update on your Surface Pro 3 yet? Let us know if it has resolved your battery woes if you were previously affected.
