[Joeaksa]

Kurt,

I was going to SMS in Springfield in 1973 or so and trained on an old IBM 360, one of the old tube type and punch card computers. Been playing with them ever since. I fly jets for a living but putz with anything electronic in my spare time.

Now on your laptop. You should be able to plug a monitor into the back of the laptop, push the FN and either F5 or F8 key to switch the video output to the monitor. Then you can plug a USB external drive into the laptop and transfer the files you want to save there.

Alternate option is to remove the hard drive and install it into an USB external housing. Then it will plug into a USB port on any computer where you can then copy your data anywhere.

DO NOT format the hard drive or give up on your photos! I personally would remove the HD and put it in an external USB housing. Then plug it into a desktop and try to recover the lost data. I have done it before and have been anywhere from 10% to 80% successful, so its worth a try.

Will email you my direct email address. May be coming to Springfield (Brother still lives there) in the future and its not that far from Jeff City.

Joe