Your calculating XP wrong though I can't quite tell how. You describe it as if how many fights there are or how large the group is matters for determining XP. It does not. Every individual monster is worth a set amount of XP to each individual character. Does not matter if he is alone or in a large group.
I'm guessing your confusing CR with EL. For XP purposes EL is totally irrelevant - do not figure it into the equation.
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The discrepancy probably occurs at the low-CR end of the table, especially for creatures with a CR less than 1. That's where the usual advice of 'double the numbers for +2CR' fails to apply. The room full of commoner initiates springs to mind.
I'd allow any low-level encounters that spill into each other to be treated as one, and creatures of CR less than one to add arithmetically, rather than logarithmically, as suggested by the DMG.
It looks like you are confusing 3.0 and 3.5 XP calculation. In 3.5 you calculate each monster individually and it has no bearing on the result if you fight 10 monsters one at a time in 10 encounters or if you fight them all at once in one encounter.
The discrepancy probably occurs at the low-CR end of the table, especially for creatures with a CR less than 1. That's where the usual advice of 'double the numbers for +2CR' fails to apply. The room full of commoner initiates springs to mind.
I'd allow any low-level encounters that spill into each other to be treated as one, and creatures of CR less than one to add arithmetically, rather than logarithmically, as suggested by the DMG.
Now your doing it wrong. If my 1st level fighter kills an orc the orc is worth 150 XP (300/2=150). There is no CR+2, your thinking of EL (there is an EL+2 for doubling the number of monsters).
Creatures worth less then 1 CR are worth whatever fraction their CR is in terms of XP. So:
for 1st level characters:
CR 1 = 300 XP
CR 1/2 = 150 XP
CR 1/3 = 100 XP
CR 1/4 = 75 XP
Anyway, if you're having trouble making the XP add up, you can always just ditch the system and go with leveling them all up when the time is right to face the next level of challenges. I'd say they ought to be 4th level when they clear out the Hextor temple in this one.
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Now your doing it wrong. If my 1st level fighter kills an orc the orc is worth 150 XP (300/2=150). There is no CR+2, your thinking of EL (there is an EL+2 for doubling the number of monsters).
Creatures worth less then 1 CR are worth whatever fraction their CR is in terms of XP. So:
for 1st level characters:
CR 1 = 300 XP
CR 1/2 = 150 XP
CR 1/3 = 100 XP
CR 1/4 = 75 XP
I agree with you. That's how I'd do it, as suggested by the DMG. I'm suggesting his program may not be recognising this difference at the low-end.
If his XP calculator is taking 2xCR(0.5) orcs as being EL1, then 4 as double that (so EL3), and 8 as double that (EL5), then throwing those ELs back in as 'effective CR', it will throw the results off.
His program is doing it correctly but he may well be feeding it the wrong values.
Paperandpixels is the encounter calculator included with the Hypertext SRD D20 site. I know it works because I've tested this on it and its so popular that even if I was wrong others here would have pointed out that its broken long before know.