missing battery time remaining estimation

Question

I am examining a new Surface Book 2 and missing the battery time remaining estimation. On a Surface Pro 4 it behaves as expected and I try to check the differences.

If you google it, there are many opinions. Many user say it is missing since 1709 Update.

Obviously there are some (HP) Laptops that can bring back the information as an BIOS/UEFI option, so it seems to be an ACPI call? But the Book2 as well as SP4 have no settings in this scope.

Also the connected standby feature being disabled may bring back some behaviour.

I am currently checking this reg hive: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power

And I am wondering about the meaning of the entries.

e.g. UserBatteryDischargeEstimator which is nearly impossible to find with google and it exists only on the SP4.

Are there any Surface Book 2 out there that show that estimated time, so a UEFI issue could be ruled out? Is it OS or Hardware related?

Any ideas or docs that may help with that issue? 3rd party apps and disabling modern/connected standby are not an option, as I want to understand the root cause why it works with the SPro4 but not with SBook2

Solution 1

As strongly suspected and concluded in the Q and comments:

after adding:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power]
"EnergyEstimationDisabled"=dword:00000000

and optionally deleting the keys

UserBatteryDischargeEstimator 

EnergyEstimationEnabled 

the missing remaining time estimation is finally back after a reboot!

edit:

semi annual windows updates are obviously reverting these changes. You have to reapply the changes after 1803 to get back you battery time estimation!

Solution 2

In the post Power meter missing remaining battery time, a Microsoft Forum Moderator answers :

Microsoft has removed this feature because the time left meter is not accurate. The time left is estimated depending on the current load on your PC, and time left changes when your close/open an app, adjust brightness, increase/decrease volume, etc.

This is born out by the large number of posts one can find on the Internet dealing with this same problem. Many users share this problem, but no solution was ever found.

I do agree with the above text, since I also have learned to mistrust the remaining battery time on my Windows tablet.

Why this change has not propagated to the SP4 is a mystery, but it is possible that because of some hardware differences Windows Update has decided that this particular update does not fit your device.

See this answer for seeing how complicated is the decision by Windows Update on which updates to install and in what order, to understand why not all updates arrive on all devices.

You will have to wait to see if the number of complaints will motivate Microsoft to return this feature. Microsoft is not known for going back on such decisions, and all that one can hope is that this was only an unintended side-effect that will be fixed in the future.

Solution 3

Head over to BIOS to check if the Show Battery Estimated Time is enabled if all of the above methods is not working for you.

At least this works for my HP 15-cs0033tx.

Solution 4

Here's what I had to do:

1) Delete [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power] "UserBatteryDischargeEstimator"=dword:ffffffff

2) Delete and then re-add "EnergyEstimationDisabled"=dword:00000000

My registry had the EnergyEstimationDisabled set to 0 and when I deleted UserBatteryDischargeEstimator - the timer did not appear. So I deleted and then re-added the EnergyEstimationDisabled key and it works fine now.

Solution 5

It is known that updating to either creators or fall creators update causes this problem. My 13.5 inch surface book (2015) had this issue after 1709 but after a clean install of Windows 10 1709 from an ISO image, the timer reappeared.

However, on my Surface Book 2 15 inch, it shipped with 1703 and when it updated to 1709, the time remaining also disappeared.

If you go ahead and reinstall windows, do let us know if it fixed it for you. Also, I'm not sure if a clean install removes the factory calibration on the display so do it at your own risk.

View more solutions

Comments

[harrymc]

If you hover your mouse over the battery icon, it should show the time remaining. You may try the apps Battery Tile and BatteryBar. You may also try to disable connected standby by setting in the registry HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\CsEnabled to 0 and reboot.

[Falco Alexander]

hover over shows percentage only. 3rd party apps and disabling modern/connected standby are not an option. the SP4 of course has CsEnabled=1

[harrymc]

Try to set CsEnabled to zero and reboot.

[Falco Alexander]

this is not an option! see my comment above!

[harrymc]

Can you try it anyway for once? There are reports that connected standby conflicts with percentage calculations, which is what I would like to verify.

[Falco Alexander]

I read dozens of these reports before I added this question. It cannot conflict as a rule because the SP4 has no problems with it.

[harrymc]

1/2 The two devices are not identical so that does not follow. There are other reports that give various remedies - one claims that enabling Hyper-V brings back the old power-meter functions; you may try but the chances are low. Another claims that this is still available in under Settings > System > Battery.

[harrymc]

2/2 In this post, a Microsoft Forum Moderator writes : "Microsoft has removed this feature because the time left meter is not accurate. The time left is estimated depending on the current load on your PC, and time left changes when your close/open an app, adjust brightness, increase/decrease volume, etc.". If true, this is a lost cause and the same may happen to your SP4.

[Falco Alexander]

I will try to disable Hyper-V for a test because this is a difference between my Book2 and SP4. if "Microsoft has removed this feature" is true, I still want to understand where. UEFI?

[harrymc]

You could examine the BIOS/UEFI for any related setting - you might get lucky.

[Falco Alexander]

neither disabling Hyper-V nor connected standby changed the missing remaining time!

[harrymc]

So this is truly a new "feature" by Microsoft, and I have written an answer to that effect.

[Falco Alexander]

I did a clean install from USB media of 1709 on my Book 2 because it stuck in an update loop of 2-3 hours after switching it on for the first time. My SP4 did not lose the time remaining when it updated last fall.

[Falco Alexander]

sorry, this is by far not an answer to my questions. it's only guessing and unclear and no further information I already gooled a week ago and summarised in my original question.

[harrymc]

I have succeeded in finding an authoritative explanation by a Microsoft official that the missing estimate is by purpose so not a bug and cannot be fixed by you or me - and I think this is a good answer. The rest about why this didn't also happen on the SP4 is agreeably a guess, but I can't do better because I don't work at Microsoft; you may disregard this part. If you want a real fix, then go back to the previous version of Windows. On my Windows tablet I disabled Windows Update because I was tired of disappearing features, and you may do the same (as long as you stay security-conscious).

[Falco Alexander]

I beg your pardon, but many forum moderators from answers.* forums act like a bot and have no clue what they are writing... I can show you tons of examples asking to run sfc /scannow and waiting a miracle to happen.... and if taken that answer serious: Where did MS supposedly remove that feature? in Win10 or in Book2 UEFI? what about the Surface Laptop?.... I am not willing to spend more time in these obvious and wrong assumptions....

[harrymc]

You can find an explanation of the problem here, not by a moderator, but you say that the solution of disabling Connected Standby does not work anymore (have you waited long enough?). You have the other option of giving up on Microsoft and using an app such as Battery Tile or BatteryBar. I consider that this is the maximum I can do for you, so have a nice day.

[harrymc]

You're welcome. I think you downvoted my answer, but I also think you won't get a better one, as even your bounty didn't help. You might reconsider.

[Falco Alexander]

downvote? U obviously got an upvote and no idea why and for what. btw: I recently checked roughly 10-20 different notebooks from 4-5 different brands in an electronics store, I could not see a single one that showed the time remaining... I am pretty sure there is a decent answer to that question which is still missing and hidden somewhere in the registry?!

[harrymc]

Apologies if you downvoted another answer than mine. This change most probably is not a registry change but a software change. Today Microsoft is much more open about the registry, and also very many clever people have searched for it without success. The fact that all recent computers miss this feature bears out the answer that it was deleted by Microsoft. You should rather ask the opposite: Why is the SP4 an exception. It was this question that I tried to answer, or rather theorize about, since it can only be really answered by a Microsoft employee.

[Falco Alexander]

Since I am quite confident, it is not an UEFI restriction I am very open minded regarding reverse engineering or debugging why my SP4 shows the time remaining and being on the same OS level. I already did some .reg diffs and still trying.

[harrymc]

You are ambitious to be the first in the world to find a simple remedy. I wish you good luck, but I'm not too optimistic.

[Falco Alexander]

like my answer? ;)

[harrymc]

Congratulations ! Upvoted, although I didn't try it. The number of the upvotes will tell in the future whether it worked for other people.

[Falco Alexander]

there are tons of threads in these microsoft answers/social forums, but they are nearly all locked/closed. I will be patient...

[harrymc]

SU is always in the front of google searches. Good luck.

[Falco Alexander]

can you please try the mentioned solution above?

[Falco Alexander]

did you try with 1709 or 1803? the reg changes require at least a logoff/logon.

[jmp]

this works 2018, HP 450 G5, but the time over battery mouseover, is not correct.. it shows something like 43456677 hours 35 min left

[Falco Alexander]

meanwhile, this "hack" seems to make its way through some more blogs... ( howtogeek.com/405868/…)

[Falco Alexander]

and onmsft.com/how-to/…