he said that, he said becuse it was able to run a check some information was accessible, but what he said was the hard drive makes a rattling noise, and you cant access anything from it, and he did say the computer may be ok, but there was no guarentee that that was damaged too.... basically, it would cost me a lot to get it looked at and i need these essays now...

...thanks for your help jim, ive got to go back to birmingham tomorrow so i think ill have to get it fixed there.