Genes - I did try your suggestions - and the Dell won't power up. Wiggling the adapter didn't make a difference. Kay - I'm curious why Dell thought it might be a battery? And I don't have any steps I can walk you through beyond what Genes outlined. Unfortunately, my Dell won't power up. There are replacement batteries on Amazon for just over $20 - so maybe it's worth trying that in case a Dell just won't power up if the batter is bad - whether it's plugged in or not. --------------------- On a separate note, I did get the battery replacement for my lenovo - and it works. Now I can unplug my laptop and get about 3-4 hours (which isn't great - but running on battery is not what I usually need). I did calibrate it once. Charge it fully - let it discharge fully until it shut off. Then recharged it fully. The battery came with instructions to do that once. I am confused, however, as I thought Li-ion batteries didn't need that at all - and that batteries that do need that need a few cycles of it. So I'm wondering if I should go through a couple of more charge and discharge cycles. Thank you. Lynn.

Just to add,your wired computer must be turned on in order for the wireless to print, at least mine does I found out.

Zep - I have 3 devices in my network list: 1) 1394 net adapter 2)intel 82566mm gigabit network connection (this one I was able to get an updated driver - but on my network connections, it still shows as local area connection - "network cable unplugged,fire..." and I'm not able to click that and get the rest of the sentence. if I click it it just gives me the name of the adapter. 3) intel wireless wifi link 4965AGN The first and third ones say they are connected and firewalled. I believe that this last wireless 4965AGN is the one that has problems and gets repaired. I could be wrong about that. The LAN one I think has always been unconnected/unplugged. I don't know what that's for or if I need it. Is that my wired internet connection? Thanks. Lynn. PS - if I go through network devices and select update drivers, it only offered updated drivers for the intel 82566mm gigabit network connection. Is there any point in googling for updated driver if this route indicate no new drives exist?

This is certainly repairable but I'm not sure if I, personally, would bother, but if you wanted to go for it. This site shows how to take everything apart. I didn't dig too deep into it so I'm not sure if the touchpad itself can be separated from the top unit, but even so it shouldn't be an expensive part, relatively speaking, if you look at parts recyclers, ebay and the like. To buy the part from Compaq, if even available, it would be more than a new unit I'd be pretty sure. Compaq goes for volume sales. There's likely a lot of units out there and being Compaq, there's likely a lot of junked out units so parts shouldn't be tough to find if you're willing to look and buy from a parted machine. As far as a DIY project, if you have some basic mechanical skills and can follow directions you should have no trouble. The things to be careful about include remembering that this is a cheap, delicate unit so don't force anything. Keep good lighting available and a magnifying glass. Have heavy items like a cups or something to keep the small parts in and keep them in order so they don't fall down on the floor into the carpet. When you work on it, pick a time that you're not likely to be stressed or interrupted. Getting into the middle of a tearapart and leaving it to come back later to finish is not a good thing to do. Be rested and ready to go at it. I doubt this should take long to complete with any luck. It gives a real sense of accomplaishment to do a job like this should you choose to tackle it. Or you might choose to just use a mouse! Good luck on whatever option you choose.