New to Illustrator - Convert issue

[emmadesigns]

I have not really used Illustrator before due to the fact that i haven’t ever needed too, however I have to complete something fairly quickly using illustrator and i am a little stumped. I have been sent some illustrated artwork that i need to make a banner from. When i first opened the artwork it looked fine and i noticed there was a link in the top left corner. I can’t remember what it said it may have been “covert link” or something like that. I clicked it as my PC was crashing and now the artwork looks grainy and not very good. Plus all the layers are now linked together and i can’t separate the layers. The image dose say its "Converted" at the top. Can anyone help me? I am using Illustrator CS5.

[pcbranding]

Hmm...was the Illustrator file from an very old version of Illustrator or was it an editable PDF (therefore containing the Illustrator file)?

'Converting' usually happens when you're trying to open a later version file on the version of Illustrator below it. Illustrator tries to work out the new bits, but anything new that it doesn't understand then it may turn blends into blocks of gradients inside clipping masks which makes for difficult editing.

You may have managed to 'flatten' the artwork which is why the layers would have gone. Or you may have rasterised the artwork.

Did you save your CONVERTED version? Do you still have the original intact version? How large is the file?
Let me know and I might be able to take a look for you.

Or alternatively post an image of it on here.