Thinkpad T61 screen problems and cord connection problems

[cdoug1946]

My refurb T61 had great battery life when bought it; then couple months ago battery just stopped working. Used it with cord. Then recently when put cord in computer connection nothing happened.....wouldn't start up. Had this problem with last Thinkpad and prolonged its life by getting new cord.
This time I just left it in one place and didn't take cord out from computer connection. Fine for awhile. Then the screen light blinked off and on. Week later light just went off and no more computer computer light. I read somewhere to check with flashlite to see if anything there and I just did and saw in middle of screen red or red outlined box. Should I give up on this one? I live in Mexico where they will fix things for cheap but finding someone that you can explain to what is going on is hard.