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i let it run down to 5% and it didn't work :-( thankyou for your suggestion though. I don't have a screw driver small enough to open the cover and i'm in a country where i don't speck the language well enough to ask for one, I think it is a problem with the charger as some of the plastic covering the wires has come away, i have another one at home which i can try when i go back in a couple of weeks. This sucks so bad, i'm in a county where they sometimes have power cuts and they always seem to happen just when i'm in the middle of something on my lap top :-( Thankyou for all your help though :-)