Thank you for the replies, they are most appreciated. You're both right the fans are a little noisy too. The heat is the worst in the top left hand corner where the charger plugs in. The opposite side does tend to get a little warm, but not as bad as the left side. I currentley have 1GB of RAM (can max out to 2GB). Are the proceedures you mention above pretty easy to take on for a complete beginner like myself?
@Mayer: is it actually possible to use the PowerBook with my charger connected but with the battery taken out?
Once again I cannot thank you enough this was upsetting me as I thought I might have to say goodbye to my laptop, but it looks like there's a chance for it after all