Day Time Clock has STopped -- Inspiron 1520 how do I get this bloody thing started again please?

I've got a Inspiron 1520 which has had battery problems for months. It only works when the cable is attached, but putting a new battery in from another laptop doesn't solve the problem so can't be battery... and now the bloody DAY TIME clock has stopped too so the PC is just useless. There are so many mother hood solutions out there because DELL are clearly not fessing up to the problems with this laptop. The INspiron 1520 clearly has battery and clock problems which DELL are doing nothing to help customers with. Does anyone know what might solve the non-charging main battery problems other than tapping the Inspiron logo -- which seems to be the most sensible suggestion in the chatrooms! HELP!!!! And then I can see at least five people who have daytime clock stopped problems in one chatroom alone so can anyone suggest what can be done about this. The laptop is about 18 months old and has been a pain with the main battery but now it just launches the initial DELL boot up page and then shifts to "Day Time Clock Stopped" before the full boot sequence commences. It has all my correspondence and family photos on it but seems impossible to get beyond this (almost) blue screen! Not a good advert for DELL. HELP Please!!!!!!!