[ltp] X20 won't restart after battery goes dead and auto-shutoff

[C K]

Hi,

I recently installed Debian Testing on this X20, and for the first
time forgot to plug in the power adaptor so that the machine ran down
its battery and turned off automatically.

Now when I hit the power button, or hold it down for a long time, or
hammer on Alt-F7, absolutely nothing happens, no hardrive movement, no
sign of a boot attempt or return from suspend on the LCD or any of the
lights below it.

The only sign of life I see (while power adapter is plugged in) is a
continuous yellow battery light and a green crescent moon light
(indicating a suspend state?).

One of the first things I did after buying this machine used and
before blowing away the Windows partition was to update the BIOS to
the latest I found on the IBM website.

The machine is acting like something is fried on the motherboard
(please tell me it isn't so) but I wonder if this might have something
to do with my also blowing away the Windows restore partition these
machines are shipped with?

If anyone can help me breathe life into this wannabe doorstop, I would
appreciate it. Considerable googling hasn't turned up anything quite
like I am seeing.

Clayton