Erratic Charger Behavior - Indicator light (thus charger) work sporadically

On my 18 mo. old Macbook, the charger (or perhaps the battery) is acting erratically in that when connected, the light often will not come on. Sometimes it works instantly, other times you have to snap it on & off 1-20x, or just wait for a while & repeat the above. Occasionally, it will illuminate for just a short period, then turn off. It likely will continue to get worse. Is this symptomatic of the defective batteries on the recall, or is this a charger problem, or something in the computer? I've checked the firmware on battery; it's 1.3, presumably the latest. All software updates have been installed as well.
Further, I've noticed that when the charge goes to about 40%, the machine just shuts off. No warning, just powers down, w/ subsequent loss of unsaved data. This may or may not be related.
Thx for the replies w/ diagnosis!

Tim Bergman wrote:
I've checked the firmware on battery; it's 1.3, presumably the latest.
The 1.3 update is the MacBook Pro update. You need to remove it before you can find out if anything else might be wrong. Leopard installs it.
Try these two locations for it. It will be one or the other.
MacBook/Library/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/BatteryUpdater.bundle
MacBook/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/BatteryUpdater.bundle
Drag it to the trash and then reboot. After you reboot you will be able to empty the trash. Once you have done that run software update and it should install Battery Update 1.2. You should reset the SMC (System Management Controller) after doing this.
Then watch your battery and see if any of the things continue to happen.
How many cycles do you have on your battery?
Apple: Determining Battery Cycle Count

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