After installing Ubuntu 10.10, the battery indicator worked fine (both percent remaining and estimation on time). I then installed and configured some software (Skype, Pidgin, Thunderbird, removed Empathy and Evolution, ect) and the battery meter, when clicked, always says "(estimating…)"
I've tried running the battery down to zero and charging it fully again. If I go into the history or details, the percentage is recorded correctly.
Any ideas?
Best Answer
This is known bug that affects HP, Compaq, Dell and other manufactures. This is because of a change made in gnome-power-manager where by the estimate is done on time remaining, rather than percentage. This change does not play nice with some hardware and is why you are seeing (estimaing...) constantly.
The bug report about it is here if you fancy a read: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/+source/gnome-power-manager/+bug/629258
At this time, I believe there is no fix available. However you can click on the estimating... and it will bring up a more detailed view of your battery info, which will display the percentage of charge.