Camera's about 2 years old. With a fully charged battery it will take about 8 to 10 photos and then the battery indicates total discharge. How ever, if the camera is turned off for several minutes and then back on it will again take several pictures and but then again shows that the battery is totally discharged. I have tried installing a new "out of the box" battery in the camera but I still get the same sequence of events. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated

This is going to be a tough one, but we may get lucky. There are a few things that can cause this situation, and it can get tricky since we never know how long replacement batteries have been on the shelf. When some rechargeable batteries totally discharge, it can take a few times recharging and discharging them to rejuvenate (they call it "wake up") the cells. So you can have a bad battery, replace it, and the new one acts more like the old one. That's a common scenario. Next main thing to check is that the camera's battery terminals aren't dirty or oxidized, or corroded from old batteries. Sometimes you have to use a mild abrasive, in addition to a qtip, to make a good connection. Any resistance here will cause a high current drain. Last thing to suspect is a bad switch or cracked power joint (wire).
Those are the main things to check. Here is a great web blog about batteries and tips, and how to get the most pics per battery:
http://www.ebuybatteries.com/battery_knowledge/battery_care.asp
Good luck, and hope this helps.