I'm posting this from my old Win98 desktop because my XP notebook is on the fritz. I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is - something called the power jack that is soldered to the motherboard. But I hate taking portables apart since they're so delicate, and from what I've read you have to take everything apart to get to this piece, and it's not like I'm handy with a soldering iron anyway.

On my wife's advice I looked up the warranty. Yep, 3 year warranty, expired in November 2005.

Hopefully someone else can revive
This beast once I backup the drive.