Computer won't start properly

I have a windows 7 PC that has been working just fine for almost 3 years now. All of a sudden without warning, all the programs I had open were "not responding" so I tried "ctrl-alt-delete" to start task manager, but nothing came up. Finally I had to just unplug the power to shut it down. I tried starting again, clicked "start windows normally" and it started to start normally and the welcome scene came up but right when it would normally go to the user list, the screen went black. Again the only way I could turn it off was by unplugging it. I went on HP's site and tried all their suggestions, recovery manager, hard resets, and four or five other options and nothing worked. I restored the computer to it's condition from a few days ago while on safe mode, and although it said the restoration was successful, the problem remained. Is there any other possible way to resolve the problem, or will I have to return to factory settings? I have a lot of stuff saved on the computer in 3 years, so I would really rather not return to factory settings.

Hello,
FIrst thing to test is your Hard Drive
Hit F10 when the PC is first powered on and go into F10 setup - then choose diagnostics and run the HDD test. This will rule out the DD as being the problem. After that you may try a system restore from safe mode.
I am an HP employee.
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