Acer Battery Problem

I have had my laptop [Acer Aspire 5610] for three years and the only problem besides a tiny amount of water spillage I've had is with the computer charging. I'm not sure when the problem began but it was around September/October of '08. I have to keep the laptop constantly charged or it dies on me within ten seconds (goes into Hibernate mode). Even when it's fully charged, I have to keep it plugged or it'll die seconds later. This is quite frustrating as the whole point of having a laptop is defeated. I wouldn't have such a problem with it if my adapter weren't so temperamental, and only charged when it felt like it I've tried calling Acer to try to get help from them but their support is pretty nonexistent—they kept transferring me from one department to the other. I have given up hope on them. I'm at my wit's end. Hopefully, you guys can help me out because I love my computer and I don't want to have to get another one when I've become so attached to this one, especially since I've never had any other major problems with it. Thank you!

Check your power scheme in Display Properties - ScreenSavers - Power Schemes If you have very short intervals set, before the machine is to go into hibernation, increase the number of minutes. If the problem is either your Battery or your power-supply/charger, then "new" may be your best course of action. New battery and power supply can be expensive, and should be considered against new machine. Maybe a change in your Power Scheme will do the trick, otherwise… I'm Sorry I have no better news.

Is Power Schemes the same as Power Plans? Because changing my power plan from "High performance" to "Power saver" hasn't done anything. And I doubt that has anything to do with it since when the computer stops charging, a fully charged battery goes from 100% to 3% then 0% in under a minute. While I was searching for solutions, I read it somewhere that someone was having the same problem as me, and they were advised to upgrade their BIOS and that would probably solve the problem. But I didn't want to do that without someone knowledgeable there to help me. I don't want to risk corrupting my system if that isn't a guaranteed solution. Is there really nothing I can do?

If you wish help in upgrading BIOS of an ACER machine, I would recommend you seek direct assistance from ACER online help or their Forums. Sorry. It seems that any good Tech should be able to help you with such a thing. But ACER has plenty of peculiarities and proprietary features that persuade me to recommend assistance directly from them. Best Regards