I think most laptops have a video out where you can attach an external 
monitor.  This may or may not help you depending on the nature of the 
card failure, but it would be worth a shot.  A friend of mine recently 
bought a 250G external USB drive for just over $100 (make sure the USB 
versions match; I know my older laptop has USB 1.0, and a lot of newer 
things use USB 2.0).  If that's affordable for you and you can get the 
laptop to last long enough, you could transfer the data to one of these 
yourself, and then you'd have a useful drive when you're done.

Good luck...computer failure sucks. :(

-Lisa


Brian Casteel wrote:

>I guess I didn't realize it was a laptop, or I wouldn't have said anything
>about on-board video, because integration is the only possibility for a
>mobile computer.  If that's failing and it is this old, you will spend more
>money for repair/replacement of the failed component, which would involve
>replacing the entire motherboard to resolve the issue.  Buy a new laptop.  
>
>But in the meantime, I wouldn't use the laptop at all until you get a new
>one, so you can see at least something on the screen when you're trying to
>set it up to get your 'stuff' copied from it to the new one.  Many new
>computers these days offer software that will pull the information for you
>and put it back in place just like it was on the older computer, so look
>into that when you're shopping.  There are other ways, but they would cost a
>bit of money, which would involve having someone else pull and transfer the
>data for you.
>
>Brian
>  
>

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