Lap Top wont boot up

I have an Inspiron 1000 that I received as a Christmas Present in 2005. All of a sudden this past week, it started acting strange when I powered it up.  I use it to keep the books for my small business and seldom if ever use it for internet purposes.  On occasion when we are traveling, I will log on to the internet to retreive my email but I do not use this laptop for regular internet sessions.

 

For two or three times, the PC would show me a screen asking me to press F2 for setup or F12 for the boot menu.  Usually after a few minutes it would start windows and then proceed normally.  Now it will do nothing and gives me an Intel error.  I called Intel and they advised me that I must first contact Dell customer support.  I called Dell Customer support on Tuesday and since my laptop is past the warranty period, I had to pay for technical support.  I was on hold for over 55 minutes when a person by the name of Claire came on and asked me to turn the PC off, Turn it back on and press the F8 key to start in SAFE mode.  Well that wouldn't work so she said she wsa sending me a boot disk overnight.  That still hasn't happened and I am frustrated because I don't have 45 minutes to sit on hold while someone else tells me that they will send me something else.  Claire was supposed to call me back today at 11:00 a.m. but by 11:30 a.m. I still had not heard from her and I had to leave for a medical office purpose.  I have called back to technical support and I am very frustrated now with the whole experience. 

 

What do you suggest I do.  I don't feel that I have gotten my $49.00 worth of assistance so far but I don't know how to request a refund and evidenlty, there are no real people at Dell to answer questions.