[tlinux-users:07315] A hardware question: Portege

Before I spend money I can't afford, I thought I'd ask here....

A while back, as I went to plug in my Portege 3440CT, there was a spark, 
and it apparently surged the laptop. Results were that if the extended 
memory module was in, I would get a kernel panic 100% of the time. If I 
took it out, it booted (X, of course, was painful). I mail ordered 
another module, and the same thing happens, though I made sure there was 
no spark.

Then I got a new-to-me wall wort.

Same deal.

So, was the short/surge somehow persistant with the old plug in, or do I 
have a short in the system itself, or is there something I can do in 
software that will resolve this?

Oh, and this laptop came to me second hand, no manual: on the bottom, 
just forward of the main batter, is a small slide compartment. There's 
what looks like a pictograph of a battery "under" it, but that could 
refer to the main battery. Any idea of what's in that slide compartment?

	mark
-- 
George W. Bush, tin-plated wannabee dictator with delusions of godhood