Stuck Upon Boot Up

When I turn my computer on it gets stuck on the Windows 7 start up screen. I've tried loading into safe mode and all other debugging/restoration options from the F8 screen, but nothing seems to allow me into the operating system.

The only thing that I can think happen is when I installed automatic updates last night after powering down my computer something happened. Unfortunately I don't have a backup copy of Windows 7, so reformatting really isn't an option for me at this point. Any suggestions?

When I turn my computer on it gets stuck on the Windows 7 start up screen. I've tried loading into safe mode and all other debugging/restoration options from the F8 screen, but nothing seems to allow me into the operating system.

The only thing that I can think happen is when I installed automatic updates last night after powering down my computer something happened. Unfortunately I don't have a backup copy of Windows 7, so reformatting really isn't an option for me at this point. Any suggestions?

Tried booting it as a slave drive? If you can do that, it's a HDD issue. If you can boot but it doesn't even show up in the drivelist, it's a BAD HDD issue. If it still doesn't boot even off of the new drive, you're gonna need to be a bit more specific, though I guess you could do the generic testing RAM and testing connections thing, too.

Might've tried this one already, I'm not familiar with Win7's F8. Assuming you have a Win7 install DVD or can borrow one you can try booting from that, then use the "Startup Repair" buried in the options. {link}

Well, I turned the computer on for the first time in a week after calling it a failure and realizing I'd need to shell out some cash for a copy of Windows 7. I was greeted with the plain text of "Missing Operating System." I am increasingly beffudled by this as I can't think to anything that would remove the OS in its entirety.

Any idea how much a copy of various Windows 7 software will cost me?

Most are $80 and up.
Another option you could look into is if it's not too old of a computer you can sometimes buy factory reset discs for about $10-20.