Yes, thanks Urlee. I think the HP recall a few years back was brought to my attention by someone on this forum. Not only did a get a new battery about two years into the life of my old one, I got one with higher capacity...and for free. I think they even paid the return shipping, and required I return ship.

Thanks.

Do you have a simple basic wired handset telephone available? If so, plug the same cable you would plug into the laptop, into the telephone. Pick it up - do you hear a dial tone? If not, work your way back by using another telephone-to-wall jack cable. Try other jacks in the house and note the results. Still no tone, or only on some jacks, and your normal telephone works? Then you have in-home telephone wiring problems and may need to call someone - and it doesn't have to be the telephone company. If you hear a lot of static during the tests, you may also wish to check the NID (network interface device) where you can unplug your house wiring (it uses a standard telephone jack/plug) and connect directly to the telephone company wiring. Static and noise can sometimes cause a modem to report "no dial tone" errors. Sometimes, simply unplugging and reinstalling, can clean up oxidized connectors which could be a cause of static/noise. The NID is the gray box usually mounted on the outside of the house and is where the telephone company wiring ends, and your in-home wiring begins. If you do have static/noise when plugged into the NID, however, then it's a telephone company problem and you should contact them.

First problem first. It sounds like the mechanical power switch has either some arcing, or oxide build-up, on the switch contacts causing intermittent or full contact closure. The replacement part is most likely NLA (no longer available). Without knowing if you have any electronics experience, I'll first give you the simplest thing to try. Unplug the unit and then give the switch switch about a dozen or more rapid on/off pushes - it'll sometimes burnishes and cleans the contacts. Plug in and test to see if that eliminated the problem. If not, it time to take the cover off - only if you do have some electronics experience! Unplugged of course, use a small jumper lead with alligator clips on both ends and locate the power switch on the inside front left corner. You'll see two wire wrapped posts coming from the switch - jumper them with the clip lead, plug in and test again. If that worked, and sounds OK, you can try the first cleaning method I described but try to spray some "lubricated contact cleaner" into the internal switch area - depending upon switch construction, you may or may not be able to. Some switches Sony used at that time were gray plastic with a small wafer board crimped on to them which contained the contacts and you could get a little cleaner in there. If that can't be done, or didn't work, I'd simply have somebody solder a jumper across the power switch to bypass it. It's really not creating a safety hazard (maybe put a sticker on the back and say "power switch bypassed" to inform somebody else taking the cover off) and basically is just the same as leaving it on all the time. But I would plug it into a power strip with a switch to really turn it off when not in use as it's probably drawing about 20 watts all the time. By the way, if the jumper didn't work, I wouldn't pursue it any further. The remote on/off problem now, if you really do have electronics experience, may be caused by the 3.6 volt backup battery, soldered in, on the main circuit board near the display - it's the same one used on many older PCs, and are still available. Of course, if you like the smell of new cars and electronic equipment... it may be time to go shopping! Without going the "home theater" route, stereo receivers are also still an option and would consolidate your current separate tuner/amplifier setup into a single product.