I too get this error, when using kernel 2.6. Generally the Compaq Presario X1000 laptop gets all the way through booting into KDE, everything looks beautiful, when this false battery warning pops up (saying I have 3 minutes of battery when it's actually mostly charged), and it crashes, the X server dies, leaving me with this error:

error inserting apm (/lib/modules/2.6.6/kernel/arch/i386/kernel/apm.ko) : no such device

The problem does not arise if the laptop is plugged in.

If I use kernel 2.4, I don't even get that far, the Xserver won't start, probably for unrelated reasons.