Computer not booting OS

I had a similar situation, and I was able to get my files by running Ubuntu, and... here, let's make a list. I'm warning you right now, this is complicated, but I did exactly this less than a week ago before wiping my computer.

Head here and download an Ubuntu ISO. Make absolutely sure you're not downloading the "alternative install disc", you want the regular one.

Since you can see the BIOS, you should be able to boot from that CD. Don't INSTALL Ubuntu unless you really want to try it (and you probably can't without wiping the drive, for reasons I'll explain in a bit). Instead, use "Try Ubuntu without changing anything." You may just automatically boot into Ubuntu straight from the CD, but either way you want to be on a desktop without installing anything.

If you're lucky, the NTFS partition will not be marked as "in use", and Ubuntu will be able to mount your C drive without any trouble. If that's the case, you can either put the data onto a USB drive, memory card, or whatever, or if you get your networking up (it SHOULD, but my laptop gave Ubuntu fits going online from the LiveCD for some reason) you can just email everything.

If you're unlucky, and it doesn't mount, you'll have one more step. Here's the tricky part. Open a Terminal by going to Applications --> Accesories --> Terminal. When the mounting fails, a box should appear telling you it couldn't mount /dev/sdax/. This x is going to be a number, and it'll depend on your particular hard drive setup what it is. Whatever that number is, go to the terminal and type (remember to replace the x with whatever number you're trying to mount):

mount -force /dev/sdax/ /media/

DISCLAIMER: THIS HAS A VERY SMALL CHANCE OF DOING VERY NASTY THINGS TO YOUR HARD DRIVE. IT IS EXTREMELY SMALL BUT IT IS STILL POSSIBLE.

(This syntax is actually mentioned in the error message window itself, but it adds an extra directory, /sdax/, to the /media/ which screws it up. If you were actually planning on using this Ubuntu for longer than the CD being in the drive, then you'd want to fix this, but since you're not, it's not worth it. Just mount the drive to /media/.)

Which will "forcefully" mount the drive, allowing you access to the data. This is the reason you probably can't install Ubuntu on a partition, because the partitioner can't resize the Windows partition if it's "in use".

This will allow you to at least get the data off and into a safe place, after which you can do a safe reinstall of Windows.

Jam it back in, in the dark.