Well I have the laptop working, though I’m not sure what was wrong or how I fixed it, but after poking and prodding a bit it has turned on twice now with the power button. In between times, I did manage to backup most of the files to an external hard drive. That itself wasn’t easy; the first time, halfway through copying files, Windows claimed it didn’t recognize the drive and dropped it out. Some of the most important files, such as the data files, couldn’t be completely copied because for some reason, it claimed that one of the files was "in used by another program" and stopped copying.
Why am I copying and pasting? Because with Win XP Home Ed., the Backup program isn’t installed because there is an Automatic System Recovery program in place. You can, if you wish, install the old style Backup utility off the CD, but then if you use it, the ASR won’t work properly if needed.
It pays to float around the internet and check out some of the forums when you need answers, otherwise I might’ve made some serious mistakes in this project, and may not have been able to get this baby working again.
Also changed to the spare battery since that might have been the problem. Even though I almost never use the battery, I’ve kept it in place and in two and a half years so maybe that was it. I also found one loose connection under the hinge plate and that could have prevented the computer from starting up without the Diagnostic Program.
Or I may never know.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology