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.

There is a Mammoth discussion in this thread.... http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...d-896ca2f865d6

Good luck!

I had the exact thing happen to me, only while in Ubuntu it told me my battery was at a low %, but ifI leave it unplugged oddly it'll stay at 4.6/0.4% for a good 8 mins.
My laptop is almost 3 years old!

In some electronics there is also a small "coin" or "button" type single cell battery on board used by cmos...


Could this be the battery these errors are referring to?

First, let me say that -all- desktops and laptops have a coin cell like this for CMOS, not just most.

I doubt it - this would manifest itself in an error in the BIOS, letting you know it was low.
Also, these cells usually take years to discharge, mainly because the CMOS uses your laptop battery for its power, so long as its not entirely dead.

With desktops, it can take longer - so long as the power supply is plugged in, and the switch is on the "on" position(even when the PC is off), CMOS is powered off that.

Thanks for the definitive statement... I do not know how "all" things work so I stay away from declaratives.

Besides, I have no idea what tomorrow may bring and that post could be read for some time after it is announced that "all computers are now made of unobtainium", or whatever.

The reason I mention it here is because at one time, perhaps on a planet far far away, maybe using some electronic device, running who knows what at the time, I was confronted with a similar message.

I don't remember if it was bios generated at boot or if it was reported by the OS. It could have been generated by the bios and the OS I was using reported it simply because it could... for all I know.

What I do remember is going ape shiznicky trying to figure it out and this thread reminded me of the incident.