In his ham-handed way Gargoyle has pointed at something the rest of us forgot - some of those old laptops need a working battery in order to   run at all, even if you're using them with the charger connected and running. Find a working battery that fits and try cranking up the computer that way. And if it works, go ahead and replace the battery.

I think J in K is still in good standing here at Mudcat central.

SRS