laptop help please!

My daughters laptop has developed a fault and would appreciate any help.
The problem is that it wont boot up to windows and only gets as far as a black screen offering several methods.
IE safe mode/normal mode/last known good configeration.
But selecting any of these gets no further than trying to boot but returning to the same screen.
I really dont know what to try next and the thought of her not having her laptop over xmas is not good.
many thanks for any advise...

UPDATE.
Just been told that she was installing the lastest media player and everything froze so she turned off the laptop ,since then the above is happening

What is the make and model of the laptop?

Does she have the XP Recovery Disk?

thanks for your reply.
the make and model are.
Fujitsu Siemens/Amilo Pro.
we cant find a disc for it ,though i do have a windows XP disc that came with my PC. Is there a difference between this and a recovery disc. I did try to boot her laptop with it but it wanted to format and i lost my nerve!
thanks again.

Have you checked the support site for the laptop maker? You can find it Here IMHO that would be your best course of action. If nothing on the support site helps contact them via telephone or email or look around the support site for a link to live chat

I have now found the recovery disc and drivers. I have tried the repair XP only method but it says it must be formatted first. There is a lot of college work that has not been backed up and my daughter really needs this.Is there anyway of recoverying these to my PC before formatting.
Many thanks.

You could store the files online and then retreive them when the laptop is working again. Please see this thread at the WS forum from a good friend of mine Crockett.

Or if you have room on yopur computer you could transfer the files to your PCs hard drive and then retreive them from there when the laptop is back up and running.

There are several ways to transfer the files from the laptop to the PC. Do some reading Here