Compaq Presario f700 w/2GB Ram and other assorted hw.

the video went scratchy and wavy and then went black.
the puter will make PS sounds and spin the dvd, but the display never comes up and the HDD never lights up.

i can buy a new PC but i'm an author and need the info off the HD

any advice?

can i wire the lapptop's hdd to my desktop and retrieve data that way?

thanx for the help

JS