Compaq/HP NC8000 problems

Hi all, I have a friend with an NC8000, it has a couple of little issues.

First, the touchpad and the little joystick in the keyboard wont work. Have
tried various operating systems (it came with XP, no good, he has since
installed Windows 2000 and it still wont work). Is there anywhere I can
check for a broken connection or anything?

Second, when you plug the power into it, the screen gets brighter, and when
you disconnect power, the screen dims slightly. His old laptop was able to
switch this power saving function off, but on this new one, it doesn't give
him the option. Is there a reg entry or something I can change to disable
this feature?

Cheers All