Faulty screen, ghost clicking and charging issues Surface 3. Can I get some help?

[Ferrr]

Faulty screen, ghost clicking and charging issues Surface 3

I have a Surface 3 LTE, purchased in October 2015 with all updates duly installed. On the screen appear random clicks, like if I was touching it (but I don't) at full speed, making appear menus, opening files, starting apps etc. making the device unusable.

I had reset the device to no avail.

Additionally, I experienced other problems:

- "Autorotate on" appears on the screen when working with the keyboard attached (so, not rotating at all) stopping the device for some seconds.
- A full charge needs 5-6h, with the device plugged in and switched off. If you want to work while charging the device, you will have a hard time: it charges extremely slowly (12h minimum needed) and in most of cases, if you have 2 or 3 "normal" (not very high energy consuming) apps open at the same time (outlook, word, edge), the device will keep on discharging, even plugged in.
- The device loses battery when on sleep mode at a very alarming pace (around 5% per hour)

I purchased the device in the US and I work in Russia. Now, with a worldwide guaranty, and in spite of having a filial in Russia, Microsoft asks me to ship the device, to pay for the shipping, to be delivered the new one in the US, and to pay the shipping again to my home in Russia...

And the screen problem is known since 3 years, with thousands of people complaining on forums.

Shame to Microsoft to keep on selling these crappy devices.

If you don't know how to make computers and how to deal with customers, please stay away and let others like Apple do that.

I deeply regret the day when I entered the Microsoft store to buy this piece of (s...).

Someone else is experience the same ordeal?

 

[3earnhardt3]

The charging issue is due to a bad charger, you can pick up a new charger and 20awg cable on amazon/ebay for $15-$20 and it will charge the tablet no matter how many apps are open (look for a 2.4a, 5v charger and I use a portapow charge only cable, not the charge + sync). The phantom touch issue was present on mine after a bad update, I used the media creation tool to perform a complete wipe of the system, not just a reset/refresh. After the complete wipe/re-install the phantom touch went away and has not returned in 3 months. The warranty issue stinks but is the same for most companies, warranty items have to be shipped/serviced in the country of purchase.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

I agree, this thing has lots of little problems that add up to a subpar experience.

I have slow charges with the default charger also. It's not as bad when I use a different charger that came with a thicker cable so 3earnhardt3's advice is good.

As for high discharge while sleeping, run the sleep study program to check if you have any apps that are staying awake while sleeping. I found the Audible app was taking lots of power even while asleep. After uninstalling that, I got better sleep power usage but it was still unacceptable so I enabled hibernate and now it's fine.

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsex...raining-your-battery-while-the-system-sleeps/

I haven't had the phantom touch issue but I have started getting the Autorotate on issue. Occasionally the Rotate button in settings will be disabled too.

I've found the power button and touch screen also randomly stop responding. The power button issue is some kind of software issue because holding it down will still force shut down the machine. The annoying part is it won't start working until a full power cycle.

It's great hardware, the software sucks.

 

[GizmoEV]

Update the battery drivers using method 2 as indicated in this blog: How To Update Surface Battery Drivers ? Love My Surface

This totally fixed my battery life issues. I'm still on Win 8.1 Pro but someone else on another thread reported improved battery life and they are running Win 10, IIRC.