MBP shuts down when battery at appox. 30%

Hello,
I have a 17" MBP 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
Recently (in the last 3-4 days) it has decided to shut down completely when the battery charge falls to around 30%. Prior to these symptoms appearing, it behaved normally with the 'low battery warning' appearing at about 5% and then going to sleep mode as opposed to shutting down.
I have reset the SMU by removing the adapter, battery and pressing the power button for 5 secs. Unfortunately the symptoms remain. Obviously I cannot re-calibrate the battery as it won't carry on below 30% charge without the MBP shutting down.
I'll be taking a trip to my local Apple dealer in the next few days but was wondering if anyone else here has any further suggestions I could try.
Many thanks in advance.
Da Vinci

glavender wrote:
...Hopefully Apple will do something about this. It doesn't seem right that the battery would fail this early! Especially after spending so much on a computer!
Umm... of course Apple will do something. I do not understand why you felt you had to add that to your reply. Allow me to explain:
1. I have AppleCare, therefore if it's a hardware issue then any repair will be carried out without any cost to me.
2. Apple have introduced a 'battery exchange and extension' program:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/
If the battery is at fault, regardless of whether I have AppleCare or not, the battery will be replaced as it falls within the terms of the extension program.
I have just now reset the PRAM and am running on battery power. I'll know in the next couple of hours whether that has had any effect or not.
Meantime, if anyone else has any additional suggestions as opposed to 'me too' type replies I would be very grateful.
Many thanks.
Da Vinci

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