Inspiron 8200 Power Meter vs. Time Remaining Discrepancy

[CyrKrtsMan]

During the process of attempting to monitor the charge-discharge cycles
of my I8200's battery I - some how - managed to throw the power meter
out-of-sync with the time remaining indicator in the power options
properties dialog window. All of which would be simply amusing except
for the fact that the alarms no longer function properly and the
computer now shuts down without warning once the battery is discharged.
Fortunately, this appears to have not yet affected the recharging
process - for now...

I have already re-flashed the computer's BIOS and that didn't help and
I have not found any recalibration programs for the batteries in the
I8200.

Has anybody else had this problem and is there a solution that does not
include reinstalling WinXP?

Thank you very much, in advance, for the bandwidth, your time, and
consideration.
Best Regards,
CyrKrtsMan
P.S. Of course you realize that none of this would have happened if
the battery icon would just stay in the system tray... (yes, thank
you, I checked the box... several times.)

 

[Dr. Dos]

During the process of attempting to monitor the charge-discharge cycles
of my I8200's battery I - some how - managed to throw the power meter
out-of-sync with the time remaining indicator in the power options
properties dialog window. All of which would be simply amusing except
for the fact that the alarms no longer function properly and the
computer now shuts down without warning once the battery is discharged.
Fortunately, this appears to have not yet affected the recharging
process - for now...

I have already re-flashed the computer's BIOS and that didn't help and
I have not found any recalibration programs for the batteries in the
I8200.

Has anybody else had this problem and is there a solution that does not
include reinstalling WinXP?

Thank you very much, in advance, for the bandwidth, your time, and
consideration.
Best Regards,
CyrKrtsMan
P.S. Of course you realize that none of this would have happened if
the battery icon would just stay in the system tray... (yes, thank
you, I checked the box... several times.)

No solution here. Just to say I have a similar problem with
my Toshiba M10. I suspect XP SP2 as the culprit, but the
only way to prove or disprove it (hardware vs OS) is a total
reconfigure. I am willing to do this only if Microsoft will
pay the reconfiguration/application re-install fee if it
turns out that the XP OS is at fault. So far, no offer, no
reconfigure until a total crash, and I have no solution. Sorry.

 

[CyrKrtsMan]

Well, for what it is worth: Reinstalling Windows didn't do the trick!
Between the malfunctioning power alarms and a separate problem with the
paging file, I managed - again - to completely crash the OS on my
computer. One complete reinstall later and the "total time
remaining" indicator is still over 16 hours on a fully charged
battery.

So, it isn't in the BIOS because that was re-flashed. And, in
isn't in the OS because that was just reinstalled. That would appear
to leave some kind of register in the battery itself!

So, how do you fix it?

Thanks.
Regards,
CyrKrtsMan

 

[CyrKrtsMan]

Well, for what it is worth: Reinstalling Windows didn't do the trick!
Between the malfunctioning power alarms and a separate problem with the
paging file, I managed - again - to completely crash the OS on my
computer. One complete reinstall later and the "total time
remaining" indicator is still over 16 hours on a fully charged
battery.

So, it isn't in the BIOS because that was re-flashed. And, in
isn't in the OS because that was just reinstalled. That would appear
to leave some kind of register in the battery itself!

So, how do you fix it?

Thanks.
Regards,
CyrKrtsMan