Windows 7: computer will not boot and startup repair didn't work

Today, my HP pavilion dv7 laptop thats running on Windows 7 64 bit will not start. It was acting a little slow and then it completely froze and shut down. When i turned it on again it when to the starting windows screen and the windows logo never came and it went right into a startup repair. The startup repair didn't work and i tried to boot it up using a windows 7 64 bit CD and its searching for problems right now but it's been doing that for hours. I've read up on this a little bit and it is a big laptop so i know it may take a little longer to check through everything, but i was wondering if there's a better or faster method to fix this laptop? I do plan on probably getting it checked out but i really want to get my files off of it first because there's a lot of things on there i need

Did you try System Restore ?

To backup your files: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console


Further steps for troubleshooting boot issues: Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot

Take another chance of startup repair, at first. Follow the step 8 of the tutorial Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot .

How to Rebuild MBR with partition manager - Partition Wizard Rebuild MBR Help

If it also fails, you have no other way but go with what writhziden suggested.

i tried the system restore but it said that weren't any restore points. it's still checking the disk for errors apparently. its been like 6 hours. i'm not sure if i should just turn it off and try something else, or let it continue

Let the disk check continue.

Patience is a virtue. (Hard to be virtuous,isn't it?)

As soon as the check disk finishes, get back to us and I'll try to fire a shot directed at your problem.

Rule of thumb: don't interrupt check disk.

If there are physical errors on your disk, the utility will attempt to low level move the files and mark the old spot(s) as bad (don't write new data there). So, if there are errors, an OS level copy probably couldn't copy the data anyway, or it would complain, try again, complain, until it succeeded or gave up.

You are far better off letting the repair complete normally, even if it takes 10-15 hours (it might have a lot to do).

You'll need to finish Disk Check first, but then work through the Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot steps from the top as if it's infected then it may not repair if not disinfected first.

In addition test the HD with maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan to get that out of the way.