My Thinkpad 600E Won't Start!!

[racoonsuit7]

Okay, so here's the deal. I've been using my Thinkpad 600E for about a year, and everything's been fine up until now. It happened gradually. Originally my battery held of a charge about over 2 hours. A few weeks ago it went down to 20 minutes without an AC adapter. Then, I couldn't even use it unless it was plugged in. After a few days of it being pluggd in constantly, the moniter started flickering. Then it went off completely. The computer would still start, but you couldn't see anything. Finally, the inevitable happened. It won't power on. Nothing. With it plugged in the power light/CPSLCK/SCRLCK/NUMLCK flickers. Without it plugged in, not even that.

I've bought a new power adapter, thinking that might've been the cause. Nope. Now, my next step would be to buy a new battery, but I wanted to know if I should even bother or not.

Please help!