> 
> Nothing seems to work . I wish I can get some back up of some critical
> data ( understood that the laptop is ageing)
If it's the data that's important, you can always take out the hard 
drive and hook it up temporarily to another PC (possibly via a 2.5" to 
3.5" adapter) to copy the files.
cheers
Chris
-- 
Chris Dennis                                  cgdennis@???
Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK