Don't know if you have the same problem, but ..

On Sun Jan 05 2003 at 08:50:05 +1030, wulf@ping.net.au wrote:
> apm reports the following status on a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop
> running NetBSD-1.6:
> 
> husky% apm
> Battery charge state: unknown (absent?)
> Battery remaining: 0 percent (0 minutes)
> A/C adapter state: connected
> Power management enabled
> Number of batteries: 2
> 
> The "Battery charge state" and "Battery remaining" reports are
> static, e.g. they never change. However, it detects whether or not
> the laptop is powered via mains or battery.
> 
> Have I been missing something during the configuration or is this
> simply lacking support for this particular hardware?

For my (ex) Dell Latitude laptop one battery out of three didn't report
remaining charge properly no matter what I did. I inquired Dell about it,
and they said that the battery which was not working only supported ACPI.
I think the battery which didn't work was "rev 1" while the other two were
"rev 2".

Needless to say, the easy solution back then was to use the third one
only in an emergency. Perhaps you'll have some luck with the amassing
acpi support?

-- 
Antti Kantee <pooka@iki.fi>                     Of course he runs NetBSD
http://www.iki.fi/pooka/                          http://www.NetBSD.org/
                 "connoisseurs do not chill their malts."