Hi,
Regarding the issue with the capacitive strip activating, have you applied the firmware update that was released to try and correct this issue - from what I've seen, results vary between completely solving the problem to having no effect at all, but it's definitely worth trying. A description of the firmware update and the download can be found on the following link.
Regarding the battery, if the diagnostics report a problem, by far the most likely cause is that it's simply failing and this would be consistent with the age of the machine. Shut down the notebook, unplug the AC Adapter and remove the battery. Plug-in the AC Adapter ( leave the battery out for the moment ) and start the notebook. If it runs Ok, this would also tend to support the battery is at fault.
Regards,
DP-K