I have a computer with BIG battery problems. It's a Compaq Presario and I was so jazzed with Win 7 that I decided to upgrade it from XP. I had done so with other computers with great results.

I am going to be a bit vague about error messages and exact model numbers now, because the laptop is out of state at the moment. The laptop is about a year old.

So, not that long after it came, it had some sort of keyboard problem, so it was sent off and repaired for free.

Then something seemed to be wrong with the electric connection -- the screen would go dim (as it would if unplugged) and you had to jiggle the connection to fix it. I replaced the adapter and that problem went away.

Then it started getting a message saying approximately, "your battery is not working correctly. You should replace it." (My theory -- probably wrong -- was that the jiggling had damaged the battery somehow.)

To make a long story short, it was not used much for several months, until just recently. I had found a thread of discussion about this problem by Googling the exact error message.

It appears that a number of users with various computers started getting this message the moment they switched to Win 7. They could switch back or run Linux and the problem seemed to vanish, I gathered from the messages I read.

This problem had a long history, and I read on hoping that eventually some definitive solution was found. No such luck.

My friend (whose computer it is) wanted to take the laptop out of state, so I decided to try a test. I had a new battery sent to her in Pennsylvania.

Sure enough, the same message about replacing the battery appeared within 24 hours, and she tells me that the only way she can keep the computer going is to charge the battery on a computer belonging to another friend, then the computer works till the charge runs out.

So, I will probably go back to XP. (I'd put Linux on it if she'd let me.)

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

I figure that Compaq didn't guarantee compatibility with Win 7, so I really can't complain much. It just came as a surprise.