Hi. I've just installed XP Home on my Advent 8480 DVD laptop. All seems ok except the battery won't charge. It discharged to about 14% and stayed there. The charge light comes on for a bit then goes off again. Heeeelp!!!

I would think installing XP would be a coincidence, not a cause. Turn off the computer, plug in the charger overnight and turn on in the morning. If it's still not charged I would suspect either the charger or the battery. You might be able to measure the charger voltage (with a charge applied to the battery), and see if it's putting out enough Volts. When all else fails beat the $%!* out of it!!!

Problem sorted... I tracked down a friendly IT guy who suggested hitting F2 on startup. There's a utility there called 'refresh battery' or something similar. It drained the battery from 14% down to zero. I expected the laptop to shut itself down at this point but it stayed on for a good hour or so. Turns out the battery was fully charged but XP thought it was nearly empty. When I restarted and recharged back up to 100%, harmony was restored...