[Joeaksa]

Kurt,

Well???? What happened?

One other thing that Goran touched upon is that they now have small USB enclosures that you can use to get your data back with if the laptop does not work any longer.

Both of these (two out of hundreds on Ebay) will take your old laptop hard drive inside. You then plug the USB cable into the device and a laptop or desktop computer and it shows up as an additional drive. Copy the data you want to save and BACK IT UP next time!

I use these enclosures all the time. When I head overseas I take an extra hard drive with me full of videos. Am addicted to CSI and so on and I copy them from my TIVO then to the external drive. This way I can watch the tv I want to out on the road.

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-2-5-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-Anti-Shock-On-Sale_W0QQitemZ190059179786QQihZ009QQcategoryZ41911 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-2-5-Laptop-hard-drive-Enclosure-External-case_W0QQitemZ290058398647QQihZ019QQcategoryZ74949 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Joe

PS you also might want to join and look into this Yahoo group. Its called "Laptop Repair" and is very good with issues like this. I am a member and we all pitch in and help people who are having issues with their laptops. Its free and a good group of people.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Laptop_Repair/?yguid=8713648