Vista - Boot up problems

I am having some problems regarding booting up my Advent laptop, it came pre - installed with Vista home premium. it just wont boot up anymore all i can do is access the bios screen, the handbook it came with gives me information to press F8 to enter system recovery but sadly this does nothing, but make a beep each time i press the key. The laptop is just out of its 12 month guarantee so could be costly to repair.
I wonder if any one can shed some light on what i can do to solve this problem. I have even inserted a vista DVD that i have for my pc, but still can't get into system recovery or repair.

Thanks in advance.

Jack

jackpelter wrote:
In the BIOS, do you see the hard drive? If you don't know what I'm talking
about, take the machine to a local computer professional and have them
diagnose it. If it is only that the hard drive has died, this is not a
hugely expensive repair/replacement. However, there is no way for anyone
who can't see your computer to be sure about what the root cause is.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

In the bios i can see the hard drive listed among the boot options. I understand its hard for someone who cannot see the computer to offer instant solutions, but i was wondering if it is more cost effective to just by a new hdd rather than pay the unreal prices of my local store to just open the back of the machine.

Thanks anyway