Trouble-shooting tips?

[brendala]

So, my desktop computer refuses to turn on (I'm currently using the old laptop that I gave to my mom a few months back). And, like a dumbass, I've been lazy about backing my stuff up on the external hard drive lately. So, if I can't at least retrieve the files from it, a TON of scanned drawings/photos/etc are going to be lost.

So, I just thought I'd ask anyone who might be tech savvy and/or has had this problem before what's up. Maybe I can at least troubleshoot this myself before I shell out cash for professional help.
I have a buddy who is a computer whiz; but it's hard to coordinate our schedules to get together and I don't want to wait too long before trying something. I also heard that a dude who handles the servers at my work might have a side business doing this sort of thing; so hopefully that pans out.

I just REALLY hope I don't have to resort to Best Buy's Geek Squad. In my experience, they tend to be inexperienced kids at best and and outright shysters at worst. >_<

Any advice would be appreciated!

Comments

[brendala.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice!

It's a tower computer that the tech-savvy friend actually built for me. I'm hoping that once I get in touch with her the solution will be easy enough for her to talk me through it (since getting together is tough due to work schedules and whatnot).

Saving the computer would be nice. But right now I just want to salvage the files so I don't have to re-scan a billion things.

[gullwhacker.livejournal.com]

Yeah. An enclosure for a hard drive, and you should be able to just remove the drive to get the files off of it. You might even be able to put the drive back in if the computer proves fixable.