Power Meter Reading for Battery is Incorrect

[Guest]

Ever Since I installed a new bigger Hard Drive (from12 gigs to 60 gigs) and
Windows XP Home, my Power Meter on the laptop has been giving me bogus
readings. It will drop from “3:00 hours remaining†to 80% in an hour then
drop to 3% ten minutes later without warning and lock up my system.

Just this evening, I started and unplugged the laptop at 7:30pm and meter
said 100% and 3:00 hours left. At 8:20pm power meter said 2:43minutes
remaining.

At 8:44pm the audible alarm sounded showing 3% battery left, (it never did
show a text alarm at the 10% like I had it set) The audible alarm keeps
beeping until the laptop shuts down or I plug in the power cord. At that time
I plugged in the power cord and the meter shows 3%.

I have tried three different batteries, with the same problem.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

 

[needlove]

Have you searched the manufacturer's website? It sounds like a
hardware problem rather than the software. Also try Googling the
problem like; keywords: "laptop battery low new hard drive" or
"laptop battery monitor incorrect"

 

[Quaoar]

Ever Since I installed a new bigger Hard Drive (from12 gigs to 60
gigs) and Windows XP Home, my Power Meter on the laptop has been
giving me bogus readings. It will drop from "3:00 hours remaining" to
80% in an hour then drop to 3% ten minutes later without warning and
lock up my system.

Just this evening, I started and unplugged the laptop at 7:30pm and
meter said 100% and 3:00 hours left. At 8:20pm power meter said
2:43minutes remaining.

At 8:44pm the audible alarm sounded showing 3% battery left, (it
never did show a text alarm at the 10% like I had it set) The audible
alarm keeps beeping until the laptop shuts down or I plug in the
power cord. At that time I plugged in the power cord and the meter
shows 3%.

I have tried three different batteries, with the same problem.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

If this is an older computer formerly running Win9x/ME, are you sure
that the computer hardware supports XP? What does the vendor's support
site say about running XP? Some older computes need a BIOS update for
XP, some have proprietary power management drivers to handle the
battery, etc.

Q

 

[Guest]

Yes, this was a Win 98 system. I have updated all the bios and drivers.