IBook G4 repeated power shutdowns

Hello!
I have an iBook G4 that I purchased in the spring of 2005. I have had increasing power/battery issues for one year now. Once last summer, my laptop went dead but the genius's at my local apple store taught me how to turn it back on and suggested I purchase a new power cord. I got a replacement power cord (not from apple directly) and my computer has had no problems for almost a year until last week.
My iBook has now started to go black and not want to turn on without my rebooting it after taking the battery out and replacing it almost daily and/or multiple times per day over the past week. I have to manually reset the time and date with each power failure. My battery power % appears to be fine always at 99-100% when plugged in. These power failures happen both if my power cord becomes even a milimeter loose from the laptop and while it is secured completely into the laptop.
My question is do I need another new power cord, another battery, or is my computer on its way out completely. Ideally, I'd love it to last 1 more year for school.
Also, I know I should get an external hard drive asap. Does anyone know if I get one now and back up my files from the iBook G4 and then later replace my laptop with a newer macbook will the external hard drive still work for my new model?
Thank you so much for your help and thoughts!

Battery Information:
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4680
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4684
Health Information:
Cycle count: 90
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12561
The iBook is quite old and this is the second battery since I've owned it. The battery was a used battery purchased on eBay. For the first several weeks I used this battery the battery icon in the menu bar would never show (Charged) and would not last long. Eventually though it gradually increased in duration and now does show (Charges) when it is fully charged like it is now. But then, it started randomly shutting down as described above. When it shuts down it is like the battery is completely dead (even if it still has 90% charge). The LED indicators on the battery do not light. However, if I plug in the AC adapter the LED's work again and the machine will power up and run fine (except for the loss of date and time and other settings typical of removing the battery).

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IBook G4 repeated power shutdowns

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