Rescuing files

Hi,
My laptop (acer travelmate 2414wlmi) is not loading xp at all. I turn it on, the acer screen loads, and then it's just permanent darkness with a flashing underscore in the top left.
I would like to recover my files to an external hard drive before doing a full system restore. I ran check disk on the windows recovery cd, as well as avira antivir, but neither had any effect.
I tried Ubuntu, which has worked for me before, but my files did not appear. Only system files and acer disc were visible.
Is there anything similar to ubuntu I can use to recover my files?
Is there anything else I could try?
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ed

If you have an external HDD, you might be able to put your HDD in that case if it fits, and look at it on another Windows machine?

If it doesnt fit, there's normally a print plate with SATA/IDE ports/cables inside the External HDD case.
with a little handy-work, you should be able to connect the HDD to the print plate as a temp solution :)

Probably the problem is with the partition of your hard drive. Try partition recovery software from DiskInternals or EASEUS. Or download UBCD4Win its a big iso but its worth it.

Refer to How to's at ptdd.com

Thank you for the tips. Ive ordered an ide to usb adaptor. So hopefully that will solve the problem. If not though, Your suggestions will be next on the list.
Ed

You may be able to do it without having to remove the drive. See How to recover your folders/files when Windows won’t boot

/* edit */
Ooops. i just saw you already tried a boot into Ubuntu. That didn't help? Not sure Knoppix will be different but do be sure and run chkdsk on that drive

Eddie,
A USB to IDE converter will allow you to connect it to anoter system and look for you files, used them many times.
If the drive is damaged or even formated there are several programs (not free) that allow recovery of files.
I had formatted Windows 2000 and installed XP Pro before I realized I had not backed up my wedding photos to CDR, so I purchased Active-Undelete http://www.active-undelete.com/ and was able to recover them all.
Phew, would been difficult to explain to my new bride.

Well, I have tried the ide to usb adapter and it has not worked. I could access G:\ Acer data, so I suspect theres no mechanical failure. However, I got the following message when I tried to access F. F:\ is not accessible. The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error. So I'm going to start trying the partition recovery software.