Laptop Battery Falls Out, Now Vista Doesn't Boot

[needhelpreallybad08]

Laptop in question: HP Pavilion DV2000, running Windows Vista Home (I think 32-bit).

Today, I was using my laptop, running on battery power only.  Unfortunately, the battery no longer locks.  I moved the laptop and the battery fell out.  Naturally, as was not plugged in to an external power source, my laptop shut off.

Upon re-inserting the battery (and plugging in the laptop to an external power source for good measure), I received the "Windows Error Recovery" screen, presenting me with:

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Start Windows Normally

I tried "Start Windows Normally", and after a loading screen (Microsoft Corporation at bottom), then the screen went black.  I could see the mouse on screen, yet Vista would not boot up.

I manually shut down my computer and this time selected "Safe Mode": same thing, loading screen, then screen goes black with mouse.

I then hit "F7" to get to the "Advanced Boot Options":

Repair your computer
Safe mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt
Enable boot logging
Enable low resolution video (640 × 480)
Last Known Good Configuration (advanced)
Directory services restore mode
Debugging mode
Disable automatic restart on system failure
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement
Start Windows normally

I tried the options in BOLD, and the same thing happened each time: loading screen, then screen goes black with mouse, Vista does not load.

I also tried the "Repair your computer" option, which got me to the "System Recovery Options" screen where I didn't know how to proceed...(so I simply restarted, never actually getting to the loading screen).

The only other possible thing was the fact that I had unchecked a few Nvidia options in "Startup" using "msconfig" (all of which were not necessary on startup).  However, after doing this, I was able to restart the computer twice without any problems (before the battery fell out), so I'm pretty sure this isn't the problem.

I'm so lost!

[needhelpreallybad08]

Does someone know anything about "Startup Repair" and how I would go about it?

Plus, does "Startup Repair" or "System Restore" leave me at risk for losing files? I ask simply because I have a lot of files which I have not backed up -- and I don't want "System Restore" to take my computer back too far (assuming before I downloaded my pictures, music, etc.)

[patio]

System Restore will only affect Windows files and nothing else....
Startup Repair will wipe all your Data and apps and take the machine back to Day One status...

[needhelpreallybad08]

1) I was told that Vista creates restore points automatically at regular intervals (around every 24 hours of use) as well as whenever updates are installed. So I was surprised that when I went to System Restore, I HAD NO RESTORE POINTS...!? So I got stuck there.

2) I then tried to acess "Startup Repair" by inserting the DVD that came with my laptop. However, mine is a "Recovery DVD" and did not have the option for "Startup Repair", only to recover the entire system. So I got stuck there as well.

3) I even tried checking out the "Repair your computer" option in the "Advanced Boot Options" menu [F7 to get Windows Boot Manager, then F8 to get "Advanced Boot Options"]. "Repair your computer" then brought me to "System Recovery Options", where it gave me the options:

-"To access recovery options log on as a local user."
-"To access the command prompt as well, log on using an administrator account."

4) For the heck of it, I even did the diagnostic that checks the hard drive for error (found under "Windows Boot Manager"), and when I came back to see what had happened, it had completed and restarted the computer.

I really don't want to lose my files...

[patio]

If you can wait awhile Broni and a few others here have had experience with the Vista repair process...i have yet to try it out.