Harry, On the battery portion of your problem:
Certain rechargeable batteries, such as nickel-cadmium types, do need to be charged and discharged by using them to achieve full life. Letting them sit can muck up the chemical reaction. Capacitors also should be "exercised", and there may be one of those in your computer's charging system that has gone bad. I don't know about that. Try to find a charger to use that tests the health of the battery-- if it will take a charge and what percentage of its full charge it will take. This will probably be an expensive unit, if you can borrow one. You might need a charger, or you might really need a battery. No use buying the wrong one because you don't know the status of your battery. David Dudine | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be July 22. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | This list's page is <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>.
