Battery Lights not working

Curious problem, haven't found anything like it in a search:

I just noticed my Macbook (late 2007 2.4 Ghz) green LED battery indicator lights don't light up any more. The battery percentage on the menu still indicates fine, and the Magsafe and menu indicates the battery is taking a charge normally. Battery capacity seems fine so far; iStat indicates the battery is at 83% health. It is the original battery, with 271 cycles (I'm surprised it's lasted this long.) I have tried 2 SMC resets, but the battery lights simply aren't working when I press the button or plug in the laptop. My guess is a battery replacement is in the works, but I'm trying a full discharge/charge cycle to see if that jolts the lights back into working.

What's the issue here? Are the side LED indicator lights gone for good?

Update: Apple Hardware Test did not find any issues. The battery is charging and holding capacity fine, I just have no indicator lights on the side of the machine any more. Has anyone seen this before?

Rather than start a new thread, I'm reviving this one, since my questions are similar and since this OP never got an answer.

I've had my MBP 13" since March 2011, and I didn't even know until today that it has battery indicator lights.

Questions:

1) What is the purpose the the batter indicator lights?

2) When are they supposed to be on?

3) I've never seen my battery indicator lights light up. Everything else on the unit works fine. Do I have a problem?

Thanks!

Please read the following Apple Knowledge Base article which describes what the lights mean. It refers to MBP models from 2008 on.... LINK

^^Perfect!

Thank you.