Compaq EVO N1020V: Endless Problems

I have had this laptop for maybe 2 years now. Actually my dad passed away and he had the 2 laptops for my brother and I and I guess he got them free doing a job. They worked fine but my first problem began with the wireless network card. I put that in and would get lockups while in XP and trying to bootup. I've read that there are now drivers that fix this issue but I've yet to try this, ok not a big deal but would like to fix this. Another issue currently is my laptop will not boot up occasionally, basically what happens is I will turn it on and the LED works, the fans spin up but nothing shows on the screen and no beeps. I sometimes fix this problem but turning the laptop upside down or to the side and it boots but it's starting to worry me that it will soon not boot up again. Other than that those are my major issues besides a minor sound issue where the volume is very low and a broken ethernet port (thanks to my girlfriend).

I would feel bad ditching this laptop since my dad did give it to me but at the same time I need these problems fixed. Theres not much I can do right now since I have no way to turn on my laptop (during the hurricane my brother stripped our AC power supply). I recently ordered a new powersupply and will try getting these drivers and see if I can fix the wireless nic problem but what can I do about the bootup issues? I thought maybe something wasn't connected or loose but now I'm thinking maybe something cracked on the motherboard. I've read up on these issues and it looks like I'm not alone on these issues, any suggestions besides "buy a new laptop" responses?

 

Possibly your AC connector on your laptop is loose or your contacts on your battery are dirty. Perhaps when you hold it upside down it goes back into place.

 

Well I just got a new AC adapter, doesn't look like any problems now. I'm getting the patches and hopefully my wireless NIC card will work.