Dell 2650. normal battery that it comes with

why wont battstat work? just shows 0%, what can be the problem

any help would be greatfull, thank you

without looking up that model, is it acpi or apm does it show when ac is on or no change ever

i found a few sites on google stating that apm doesn't work on this model. therefor you are left with acpi. first, make sure that you acpi and acpid rpm packages, then edit /etc/lilo.conf and if it says: "acpi=off" in it, erase that and save. then from command line run "lilo", and then "service acpid start", and "service apm stop". lastly make sure that the acpid service is enabled at boot, and apm is disabled. configuration tools are available for this last task. on mandrake systems, to control boot up services you have to go to the mandrake control center --> system --> drakxservices. good luck and i hope this helps.

alright well i dotn use lilo nor rpms

Gurb and slackware over here, so it looks like i have to patch my kernel?