Normally I'm answering questions here, but today I'm asking.

Today, my laptop (Dell Latitude D620) suddenly claimed that the battery was "not present". This occurs both under Ubuntu Linux (Feisty 7.04) and in the system BIOS. It's obviously not strictly a Linux problem, but I'm hoping someone else has seen something similar. The battery light comes on (green, as if charging) when the battery is plugged in and goes off when the battery is removed.

I've tried removing and reinserting the battery both with the system on and off. I don't have an identical system to try changing batteries with, unfortunately.

Any thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated.

I went to http://www.linux-laptop.net/ and one of the ones listed needed the kernel recompiled to make it work. Might look through those.

Brian

Sorry, I should've been more clear: it had been working fine previously, using the exact same kernel. Also, the BIOS not seeing it seems to point to something outside the kernel.

I would guess you may beginning to have hardware failure. I know of no of checking. Only contacting the maker may help.

Brian

I'm trying to determine if battery failure or mobo failure is more likely... any thoughts? I'm going to try to see if I can get in touch with a coworker to try swapping batteries.

There is an electronic circuit to measure battery parameters, I think. It may be slightly out of calibration. Aging battery may fall outside of it's threshold levels.
Can't value this deduction higher than two cents, though.