Computer won't get past startup repair screen?

[Sniffyz]

Okay, so I woke up my computer from sleep mode yesterday, and it worked perfectly fine for all of five minutes before everything except my cursor froze. I waited for it to unfreeze or give me a "not responding" message for about twenty minutes, but when it didn't, I manually shut it down by pressing the power button, since I couldn't get to the start menu. But when I turned it back on, an error message appeared. I don't remember exactly what it said, but it gave me the option to either: "Launch startup repair (reccomended)" or "Start Windows normally". So I chose to launch the startup repair since it said that it would fix anything that had caused my computer to stop working, but it's been "searching for problems" for about five hours now! The blue bar just keeps scrolling past, but other than that, nothing's happening. Does anyone know how to fix this? Or should I call someone to check it out? Will I lose my files? I tried to "Start Windows normally" as well, but nothing happened at all... Oh, and it's an Acer laptop with Windows 7 on it.
Thank you so much for the help!

(Oh, and I'm just on our other computer in the house, if you were wondering, haha.)

 

[Ztruker]

You need to run chkdsk, see if it can fix any file system errors.

How to run chkdsk from the Recovery Console

• Boot your Vista or Windows 7 installation DVD
• When you see "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD", press Enter
• At the "Language" screen hold the "Shift" key and press the F10 key to open a Command Window
• Type chkdsk /r and press Enter.

Let this run to completion undisturbed..

If you don't have a install DVD, you can download a legal copy here: Download Windows 7 ISO (Official 32-bit and 64-bit Direct Download Links) « My Digital Life

Make sure you get the same version you have installed: 32 or 64 bit; Starter, Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate.

 

[gregrocker]

Does the HD show up in BIOS setup when you boot into it from the key given on first boot screen? If so besides Rich's suggestion for Disk Check, boot and run the HD maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan.

In addition you can work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot