Startup Repair - Unable to escape...

Hello...
Please help. I have been unable to boot up my Dell Inspiron 1525 since the weekend. As I boot it up, it appears to boot, and then asks on a black screen whether to "Launch Startup Repair (recommended)" or "Start Windows Normally".

A: If I launch Startup Repair, it flickers a couple of times, the Windows 7 squares appear briefly, there is a flash of a blue screen/white writing which disappears instantly, and then I get a plain black screen, and eventually a white arrow cursor appears, and the mouse works, but just a plain black screen. I have let that run for up to 3 hours, and nothing changes. I have done this more than the 3 times recommened. Should I leave it overnight? Will more time help?

B: If I start Windows Normally, then it seems to boot again, and then its says Starting Windows, I get the Windows squares, and it sits there for a while, then there some flashes, and the screen goes black, and it reboots, back the option to either "Launch Startup Repair (recommended)" or "Start Windows Normally" - excatly where I was... Goes nowhere.

C: I have tried to read the Forum posts, and followed the suggestion to hit F8 repeatedly, and boot up in Safe Mode. It just runs through a whole list of Drivers that it is loading, and then hangs up on a line: Loaded: \windows\system32\DRIVERS\CLASSPNP.SYS and then I get a black screen again briefly, and it reboots to the "Launch Startup Repair (recommended)" or "Start Windows Normally" place again. Went nowhere...

D: I have tried to Boot to the Command Prompt, and it takes me back the same beginning.

E: I have tried to boot from my Windows 7 DVD which is in the drive, but it doesn't seem to read it...

I do NOT want to lose my data (I have not back-up in about 3 months, and I have critical files on there). I know that I was running out of HDD space, but it wasn't too bad...

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hello,
Thank you for the quick resposne... I can't get into Safe Mode at all - hitting F8 offers me the option, but then it runs its course, hangs up on the same file each time, and reboots me back to the option of "Startup Repair" or Windows Normally" - doesn't help me... :)
I doubt I had turned off System Protection - don't know what it is, so can't do it... :)

If not, try booting the windows 7 repair disc - get the right bit version -32 bit for you.

Windows 7 Recovery Disc

Thanks for the next suggestion - I can get into the Boot Menu, after hitting F8, and it allows me to select the Repair option, then it appears to load files, and I get my black screen again with the white cursor arrow... And then it sits like that... Should I let it run longer like that? It ran for about 3 hours this morning...

Thanks, SIW2... Is that different from the original installation disk?

At this point, I can't get the laptop to boot to the DVD either... I have the Installation DVD in the drive, and nothing...

Thank you both!

Downloading the Recovery Disk now... and I will have to work out how to change the boot options. I know I've been into the BIOS before, but don't remember how... :)