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I am having multiple Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ tablets and verified the following behavior with a brand-new device:

  1. Unpacking and charging with a common USB-C charger (of basically any model) works ✓
  2. After updating Windows (that also updates Surface and Battery Firmware), most of the chargers do not work anymore. A Lenovo 65 W power supply (Manufacturer Chicony Power) does not charge the tablet while an exactly similar looking Lenovo 65 W power supply (same specification, Manufacturer LiteOn) charges. I am in a business having multiple devices/chargers, the behavior is systematic.
  3. If I shut down the tablet, keeping the charger plugged, it will still not charge.
  4. Interestingly, when I shut down the tablet, re-plug the charger, any charger works again. Even once Windows is started again, it will continue charging.
  5. Now with USB-C hubs things got worse. While with the previous Windows Version and/or Surface Firmware, all chargers were working through my various USB-C hubs (including uni, ugreen, several from Anker), none (sic!) are charging the tablet now anymore. They do charge if plugged while the tablet is powered off (see 4.).

There is no obvious indication (e.g., slow charging notification, event logs) that the charger is not appropriate.

Especially due to 4., I suspect that Windows 10 (21H2) performs some kind of check on the plugged USB power supply. This check can obviously not be done when powered off. Is there a way to disable this check, or what am I missing?

Edit: To clarify, this specific tablet needs USB Power Delivery (20 VDC) to charge.

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    Battery charging is not controlled by Windows, but only from the firmware. Firmware sometimes offers proprietary interfaces to allow some control, for example Lenovo has this.
    – Daniel B
    Commented Nov 3, 2022 at 9:30
  • Thanks! Did not find a way to change this for Surface Pro devices. I was looking in Device Manager > Batteries > Surface Battery and via Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Battery. Annoying.
    – Daniel
    Commented Nov 3, 2022 at 12:10

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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You could disable the PD signal on the USB-C cable by using USB-C/USB-A adapters on the powered end. (This may also drop the charging wattage due to the absence of PD power negotiation.)

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  • Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it and it does not work. The tablet needs PD to charge. My technical understanding is that the USB-A pins do not support PD, thus no voltage is negioated and the fallback of 5 VDC is used that is insufficient to charge the tablet.
    – Daniel
    Commented Nov 3, 2022 at 9:20

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