Cannot access battery, icon incorrect

[Jeffrey D. Greenly]

Hello, list.

I have a minor problem. Until recently, when I was running my laptop on
battery power, a battery icon would show on the panel. Now the icon
shows a small plug and says that I am on AC power regardless of whether
I am running on my AC adapter or on battery. Further, when I click on
preferences, I can no longer see a battery tab. I have googled a bit and
tried reinstalling HAL and Gnome Power Manager per some notes I found,
but there has been no change. Does anyone know what has happened and how
I might fix it?

Thanks!

Jeff