DaveATL

I have a Pavillion dv9000 multimedia machine, running Vista. I'm on my third battery in about 15 months. I run the Balanced power plan; I've tried to calibrate the battery but to no avail. The current battery gets down to 82% power left and the machine shuts off. Anyone heard of battery problems with this machine?

aggrressor

I've got dv9000(dv9310us) also. The problem that you're describing is a dead battery. My laptop did the same thing, only it would drop from 90% to around 20% and at 10% it would die even though critical level hybernation was set to 5%, so it actually had enough power to warn me of a low battery level. I downloaded "battery eater pro" to actually test the battery and the graph would show that drop. It also stated that I had 5 cells out of 8 functional and approx 15% of original design capacity(probably 5 dying cells). That program would also tell you your battery's design capacity and actual capacity. I've got a second battery since then and it's also going to die soon.... Currently at 50% it's design capacity and only 4 cells out of 8 functional.

Keep in mind that constantly discharging battery below 40% or keeping it at 100% charge will shorten the life dramatically. If you're not using it - charge it to 40%, take it out and store somewhere in a dry dark place (no direct sunlight) and at a room temperature. These are the facts that i've found on how to preserve the battery life, while looking for a replacement battery.

Hope this helps..... :)