MBP switches off without warning at 15% battery

After recently upgrading to 10.6.5, I was working on my MBP and when it hit 15% of battery, without warning the laptop completely shut itself off. To reboot, I had to plug it in to power up. This has happened both times I've run low, and I have yet to get a battery low warning message, or an orderly shutdown. My MBP simply shuts off. Never had a problem like this before. Any solutions? Similar experiences?

(n_n) is correct. Modern batteries are "smart devices". They have a computer chip that informs the operating system how much power is left and the OS uses that information to approximate how much time is left before the battery is drained. Based on this information the OS can tell you how much time you have left, when you are running on reserve power and when you are close to depleting the battery. As you use the computer, running on battery and recharging it, the onboard processor and the OS get out of sync and that's what you experienced.
Apple recommends that you calibrate your battery to prevent this. I've set up a repeating calendar event to remind me every other month. My wife, whose computer use is different from mine, has her reminder set for every month.

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