Hi Joan It may well be just the screen that is damaged, they are quite fragile If the notebook boots up its quite possible the hard drive is OK I don't know your Dell machine personally but a quick google suggests it has a VGA port on the left towards the rear (it has a small monitor symbol on it) If you have a separate monitor around the house, you should find the standard connection is a VGA cable You may be able to connect said monitor and in effect bypass the screen to see and use the notebook and its contents Connect with both powered off When connected, power them both on and let the notebook boot up Machines vary, some will auto-detect the external monitor and ask which you want to use or you may need to use an FN key combination to switch to the monitor once fully booted up Mine uses FN and F5 combination to toggle one or other or both screen and monitor, your key combination may be different, look at the Function keys (top row of keys) for one with two little screens on, side by side, one in outline the other filled in, its a blue symbol To operate (once connected and booted up), hold the FN key down (second from the left bottom row of keys) then press the F key with the screen symbols on, holding the FN key whilst pressing the above described screen/monitor key should toggle between the notebook screen, the monitor or both together Try that if you can and see if you can get your normal screen view up on the monitor If so you can then use the notebook and copy the data onto another computer, or external hard drive, memory stick or whatever NB It is very risky not having a back up away from your notebook, once you are sorted out I would organise some method of back ups, preferably at least one to be kept away from home, you never know when fire or flood may strike Personally I would *not* send it to DELL, in my experience computer companies are very good at losing things, wiping hard drives or doing something that may lose your data If you can get copies of your data off the notebook then you might consider sending it for repair, however screens are not that difficult to fit There are many utube videos on the subject, it may not be your exact model but the following may give you an idea of what is involved <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0btmiphwJpg> If you don't feel able to change the screen yourself, I would try a local repair shop, asking for an itemised quote first *but only after you have retrieved the data if you can* Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 09/09/2013 05:49, Joan Archibald wrote: > Frinds on the list, > > > I had a senior moment 2 days ago that is going to cost me dearly not only > dach-wise but emotionally, I fear. I wax returning from the library with > my mini netbook iand a couple other bags, which I set outside my car door > before getting out. The driveway is on on incline, and I hadn't set the > brake securly. I saw the case with the netbook lying just in front of the > font tie and fearing it may have been under the tire whe the care rolled > back, I opened the case and was relieved to see my glasses and mouse were > intact and the mini netbook looked OK. But when I turned the netbook on > the screen was black with a white squrare on one side and a black streak > across. I ran to my neighbor to ask what it was since I couldn't get > Windows and my desktop loading. H confirmed that it looked like the screen > had been broken. > > My biggest concern is the many folders and files on my desktop where I kept > 5 years of important health research andother data important to me.not to > mention pictures. Neighbor is computer savy and said he was quite sure I > could retrieve the dfiles and folders by having them transferred to another > PC, using the cable from the backofmy desktop tower and the other end into > the mini. I don't understand how that can work. > I called DELL with whom I have a warranty onall 3 computers but they said > this kind of damage,, wheter intentional or not, isn't covered. I know I > will have to buy a new netbook, but wonder if DELL won't let me send back > the damaged one to retrieve transfer the data into a new netbook I purchase > from them. I will ask them tomorrow when the tech is available. Meanwhile, > has anyoine got any idea if I will be able to dave my files by any means? I > googled and found a number of companies that offer netbook screen repair, > but that may be more costly. > Any thoughts will be much appreciated. I realize it's a tough one/ > > Joan