Hp Pavillion ZT1170

Got a question for you.
My friend got a HP Pavillion ZT1170 running xp pro. When he got it the battery worked just fine. Occasionally it would not turn on from battery power. It would come on when plugged in and then run off the battery for about 3 hours. The problem soon became worse until it would never start off the battery and when unplugged while running it would loose power instantly. It is as if there is no battery in it at all. When running, windows says it is plugged into the wall, battery at 98%, charging, etc. I tested the battery with a multimeter and it registered a normal, full voltage. I am sure the battery is fine but have not tried a diffrent battery in it because I do not have one. I believe the problem is somewhere in the laptop itself, perhaps a switch or something. Any ideas?

Just Somting I forgot...
When I tried to turn it on, it would make its usual click noise and the lights would blink on and then off with its usual click again.

could be a bad battery, could be a bad interface board or charging circut.

Start by trying a new battery.

From HP's website:
HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario Notebook PCs - Troubleshooting Notebook Battery Power

While there is a lot of good info there, the first thing it says is to:

Quote:

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Update the Keyboard Battery Controller
Regularly check for updated versions of the system BIOS and keyboard battery controller. To determine if an update is available for your notebook PC, go to the Drivers and Downloads site.

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Software & Driver downloads for HP Pavilion Notebook ZT1170 for WinXP here.
It's hard to tell if this is and upgrade or the original BIOS.

You can also find Troubleshooting & Self-Repair Guide here.

Hope this helps out. Let us know how it all ends up.

We tried the BIOS thing, and it diden't do anything, and we really won't have access to a battery for a long time. Are there any other possibilitys?