''change the battery'' message

All you need to do is slide the battery cover to the Open position, then open the battery cover to access the batteries. If it doesn't open easily you may have some corrosion on the batteries holding the cover closed.

see botom of device - there are two screws, left and right, turn them and you can open.

Hi,

I had this on mine. If you pen the battery compartment door, you will see a piece of plastic labelled "CR1220". You can pull this out and replace the little CR1220 battery that it holds. That ought to solve your problem.

The battery door is at the bottom of the uvideo camera, near the Tripod Mount.

Your problem may be due to corrosion on the battery contacts inside the camera which can prevent the full power of the batteries from flowing into the camera. Try this free fix before you do anything else: remove the batteries and wipe the camera contacts firmly with a dry cloth (heavy corrosion may require cleaning with a wire brush, steel wool, or sandpaper). Remove any residue that may have fallen into the battery compartment during cleaning, then wipe both ends of the batteries and place them back in the camera. This cleaning clears the problem about 90% of the time. If it doesn't work for you, the camera may have a problem that requires professional repair.

Open battery door on bottom of camera (little plastic slide latch with the words "BATT. OPEN" next to it). Batteries will fall out into your lap. One will roll off onto the floor and end up under some inconvenient piece of furniture.
Replace with Alkaline AAs according to the polarity ("+ -") diagram printed on the bottom of the camera, and molded into the inside of the battery compartment lid.

The solution is to change the small 'date/time' battery. You can have the regular batteries as charged as you like, it won't make any difference. The tiny date/time battery is in the same compartment as the regular batteries, on the opposite side of the hinge. Extract it with a fingernail, it is situated on the left hand wall of the battery compartment (when the camera is inverted and the compartment open).

I give up...battery compartment so bad I'm returning the camera.

Some of The Canon Powershot A530 and A540 cameras are subject to an advisory recall. Seems that a small spring on the battery compartment door can short out the batteries. Suspect this of yours, in that you mention that your batteries aren't lasting long. If your camera is on the list, Canon should fix this for you for free, including free shipping both ways. This is regardless of your camera's warranty status. Please check the following link for more info:

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/canon-a530-a540-with-short-battery-life.html