For making your keycodes workable, see http://fake.by-infonet.de/laptop/ (section 9) which describes how he got extra keys to work on a Compaq. Would probably work for dell too (someday, I'll try it on my own Inspiron - the 2500s never could get the benefit of the extra keys).
As for APM breaking, I guess we were both right about the state of APM on Dell Inspirons, Fabbe :-) -- Derek Broughton - Virtual Helpdesk CCIS Department - Athabasca University Athabasca, Alberta
