Hi,
The fact that you recharged all the cells and it dropped back down to one bar in 3 minutes makes me think the problem isn't necessarily the cells' capacity, but rather their internal resistance. After 17 years, some blocks can hold a charge when not under load but collapse as soon as they're used. Did you measure the voltage of each block (all 28 modules) after recycling? Just one module dropping faster than the others is enough to trigger the fault.
Another area not to overlook is the battery temperature sensors and the cooling fan. If a sensor or the fan malfunctions, the engine control unit (ECU) may limit battery power and shut off the combustion engine.
And most importantly, I'll reiterate what was said earlier: without reading the codes (with a tool like Techstream or a diagnostic tool that reads hybrid codes, not just basic OBD), you're left in the dark. The P0A80 or P3000 codes would tell you directly if it's the battery.