Question : Problem: IBM laptop dock no longer works

I have an IBM T43 thinkpad that I use on the road, but when I bring it to the office I hook it to an IBM 62P4547 docking station.  Tonight I got a message on my laptop saying I needed to do a refresh on my battery to extend it's life.  It told me to close all programs, and said it would discharge my battery and recharge it.  When I clicked on OK to run the utility, it instantly turned off my laptop and dock, and I believe I heard the beep you hear when you disconnect power from the laptop.  There was no XP shutdown--just an instant power shutdown.

Since that time, I can no longer get the laptop working properly through the dock; the external monitors don't work, although it seems that the external mouse was working at one point.  It does power up using the power button on the dock, as usual, but the display on the laptop is what runs now, rather than the usual external monitors running on a video card in the dock.  The fan in the dock is no longer running.  I have to use a paper clip to eject the laptop.  When the laptop is powered down, it no longer shows the battery light where it's being charged, although the dock is plugged in, as always.  It's as though the dock has lost it's mind.

Surely the dock didn't happen to die at the very moment I told it to run that battery refresh, but I can't figure out how to bring it back to life.  Anyone have any idea what could be happening here, and what to do?  TIA

Answer : Problem: IBM laptop dock no longer works

WHat to do?  Remove the laptop from the dock and competely reset the BIOS back to the way you had it.  Get the system working without the dock first, in stable condition, then worry about the dock later.