Hello,

I've been having problems with my laptop's battery.  I understand the fact that decent battery capacity doesn't tend to last more than a good year or two, but I don't think that's the case here.  This battery's only a few months old, and when I press the button on the actual battery for the capacity / charge indicator, it always reads a 5 full dots.  My laptop actually shuts off when the battery meter is at about 96%.. Which seems pretty bizarre, considering the meter on the actual battery indicates a still-good capacity.  I have a feeling there might be something wrong with the mechanism that is supposed to shut the computer off when the battery is too low.

When the laptop shuts off and I turn the computer back on (immediately after pluging the AC back in), my battery meter still reads about 96%, and goes back to 100% in a matter of minutes.  By the way, the amount of time I get with this battery on the lowest performance setting is about 3 and a half MINUTES.  Has anyone had a problem similar to this?  Can anyone offer any advice for me?  I really don't want to have to buy a new battery, especially since I suspect there's nothing wrong with this one yet.

Thanks in advance!