Need help with laptop

[Clockwerk]

For whatever reason this laptop I have just restarts when I try to boot into windows, it won't go into safe mode, just restarts before I can long on windows after POST, no beeps, just restarts. I want to reinstall windows but I dont want to lose the information I already have on the laptop, this is very important. At a bare minimum I just need to get the specific files off the laptop and onto my desktop.

Can I just reinstall winows without formatting the drive while retaining my important files? If so, and I still have this problem what should I try next?

As a last resort how can I transfer the files to another computer without being able to load into windows? Remove the hard drive and plug its IDE cable into my mobo?

 

[KGB]

You really have only two options:

1. Boot to your windows CD and do a repair install.

2. Remove the hard drive, put it into an external enclosure and connect it to another PC.
If you can get to your files, copy them over and then format & reinstall on the laptop HD.

Which one sounds least painful?

 

[Laputa]

Go for option #2. You may risk loosing data files if something accidentally got overwritten. Laptop drive could also have some other unknown issue which is causing the reboot, so watch out for that windows repair when booting it up. Do not allow it to repair if it does pops up. At least just get your files first immediately after booting into the OS.