Acer/Windows boot problem?

[Apple Genius]

I am fixing a friends Acer laptop and being a Mac guy i am not sure of everything that is going on. Apprently when the computer was working it was installing what i believe to be 'Windows updates' also i think it said 'Do not turn off' but my friend did as they thought nothing was happening. Now when the computer loads up. It brings up the windows logo and then procecceds to go to the login screen but nothing happens. I don't know if something is corrupt or anything. They didn't back up anything but there is a backup partition on the drive so i need to be able to get the files back if possible. Is it just a case of getting the restore cd and go from there or is there something else i can do?

[Zebra]

You don't say what brand of Windows you're using but if it's XP you might try running SFC /SCANNOW

Start > Run > type 'cmd' and press 'Enter'

This is the System File Checker and it will check the protected system files to see if they are corrupted. You'll need the XP cd in the drawer as it checks the i386 folder in it.

Some [url=http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html]additional info.[/url]