Hello everyone, this is my first post (yay). I searched, and I could not find any solutions to this problem with google, or on the forums here.
With my Sony Vaio FZ laptop, while running 32bit Vista Home Premium, the remaining battery life is not displayed with the system tray icon. I installed ubuntu, and it displays the remaining battery life just fine, and even how long it will take to charge it. Now, I know it is possible for this information to be displayed, so why does it not work in windows? It works with all of the other Vista laptops that I have seen. Not even sidebar gadgets can obtain this information (probably because they are looking for the information in the same place). It is a great annoyance to me, and any advice you have would be helpful.
Also, I have SP1 installed, but I've had this problem since I purchased my laptop before SP1 was released.

ScottW
Well, the icon is enabled, it just doesn't show my remaining battery life. It gives me the percent that it is charged, but won't say how many hours or minutes remain.
Sony actually does put their own power settings on the laptop, but those do not provide this feature either. I've used the default vista power settings, and even created a few my self, but still with no luck. :(
Is there an application that could give me this information?

Edit: I just used this application, and it can't even display my battery life. http://www.ezzell.org/BatteryT.....nload.html

Bevin, this is a known issue with some Sony and HP laptops and not Vista itself.
I've looked high and low for an answer to this (yes, it has come up before) to no avail.

Bevin, check out the comments after this article,
http://www.mydigitallife.info/.....-comments/

But it's no rocket science to convert the percent to hours in your head. If you know your battery will last about 4 hours, then 60% is another 2 hours and 24 minutes. Those numbers are not that religiously exact anyhow. They just are approximate as is the maximum run time of your fully charged battery.

ya when i used to use vista on my hp pavilion laptop it only showed the percent but now that i use ubuntu linux it shows the percent left and how long i have left very odd how that works huh?

Bevin, if this your only problem, then you are in excellent shape. I would not even give it a second thought.

There are features in Chevys that you don't find in Mercedes (e.g. adjustable foot pedals). I guess the Vista guys just did not get to it yet. It's probably on their to do list.

Well, I think it's more of a Vaio problem than anything else, really. But you are correct, it is my only issue.
Although, I will try using Ubuntu again in eight days, since 8.10 will be released.

Bevin, sorry I read that last statement wrong. I see that there are some 3rd party battery monitors out there, but I have no idea if they are any good and I don't see any positive reviews. Does your Vaio have Sony's Battery Care?

The following page about Vista says that the battery meter should show time remaining:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.c.....e1033.mspx