Every Rose Has Its Thorn

I have been trying to replace my spare desktop (733 mhz, 256 RAM) that runs Xubuntu linux with a laptop, but all the ones that we had in storage were all pretty much only useful for parts. The other day I found an HP Omnibook 6000 (700 mhz, 512 RAM) it looked it pretty good shape except for a couple of minor things (small crack on the wrist rest, and one of the PCI slot doors is broken, plus the docking bay connector has a flip door that will not stay closed) but it looks very clean and nearly scratch free. I was very excited when I saw it, but then I realized it only had a floppy drive and no power supply. I found a DVD-ROM and a power supply in the extra parts bin and hooked them up. The laptop booted up just fine. I toyed with the idea of throwing Solaris 9 on it, but then I decided that I would rather use Xubuntu instead. About 5 minutes after I started the install, I noticed the battery charging light had changed from yellow (charging) to red (no battery present or battery has a fault). Puzzled, I waited until the install of Xubuntu was finished, upgrade the BIOS to the most current version, removed the battery and reseated it and powered it up. Exactly 6 minutes later the same thing happened, the LED changed from yellow to red. Many of the Omnibooks take the same power supply, so I find a known working PS and try it...same thing. So it appears that one of two things is wrong: Either it has a bad battery or the charging circuit is faulty. Of course the bad battery is the most likely answer...too bad I cannot find another one to verify that. The sad thing is there were several of these batteries a few months ago but they were sent off to be recycled because no one thought we had any need for them.

Here is the rub. I have a Omnibook 4150b (650 mhz, 256 RAM) that works but it has a rather scratched up display, but at least the battery still works. I even have a spare, albeit only works for 20 minutes... still enough to allow me to move from one place to another in the building. Do I continue using the old one (and swap the RAM with the 6000 to make it a tad beefier) or do I start using the 6000 and live without battery? I am leaning towards the RAM swap and then keep my eyes open for a working battery for the 6000...a long shot but at least the old machine would be faster. Of course it looks like crap (it looks like it has been dropped a few times and the display is scratched) but it does work, and it has a battery. To bad the 4150 and the 6000 do not use the same battery!

What to do...