Acer Laptop Start Up Problem

Hi,

I have an Acer laptop, about year a half old, which is having some hard drive/start up problems. It starts fine, however following the Microsoft Corporation loading screen all I can see is the mouse. The screens backlights are on but the rest of the screen is black and doesn’t change even after waiting for some time. The computer lights are on and removing the battery/charger does nothing.

I’m thinking it’s either a hard drive problem or just a software issue, in which case, I could just re-format the drive using (I don’t have the install CD’s). Since I can see the mouse (and move it), I’m leaning towards a software issue.

Or is their something else I can do to fix the problem? Thanks