I think you need to stop and take a breath if you have files on that laptop you need to preserve. You are in a dangerous situation here. This work is not for amateurs or not for people at a distance because there are all sorts of things you can do inadvertently that can screw things up and that well-meaning people might be able to fix if they were there. But, they aren't. The fact is your files *may* be OK right now and preservable if someone competent had your presumably dead laptop in hand. But there are many, many ways you can lose the data without knowing why by casting about randomly. For instance, you may have one more boot before you lose your data because your hard drive may be failing but not quite failed. Or a host of other similar kinds of things. Do not boot the machine. Find a GOOD repair shop and take your machine there. Hear and believe.Dead as in the computer will not power up. It doesn't even flash a single light. It looks like a cadaver on the table. The body is there but whatever made it what is was, is gone, finis, c'est tous. At least that is my subjective experience. I have been able to locate what seems like the hard drive. I disassembled what I could, and pulled something out that looks a bit like a PC card but different, and says HDD on the back of it. I am assuming this is the hard drive. If I could find a way to connect the hard drive to something, and get that data I would be a happy gal. Hope this helps. As I said, I see red Hawaiian punch floating in the LCD bar where the volume light is...not good. Not good a 'tall.Bob Molyneux drdata@xxxxxxxx XyWrite forever!