Dell Drive Problemo

[SaintCathy]

Hello, I do hope I'm posting in the correct section.

I own an old Dell Dimension 5150. I've been relatively happy with it and save for a handful of minor viruses, I've had no problems. Until now. After being hit by a virus and after restarting the computer, a black screen popped up with a blue banner at the top which contained, http://www.dell.com and below that, the following; "Loading PBR for descriptor 2...done" Nothing happens after that and the only things I can access before the "Loading PBR..." screen are the System Setup (F2) and the Boot Menu (F12)

You'll have to forgive my lack of computer knowledge, but from what I've gathered, it's a problem with the hard drive and partitions and the boot. (I have an identical Dell in my office and I see the same "Loading PBR for descriptor 2...done" for a split second before Windows opens up.) I've read everything from it'd be fine if I followed certain steps, that my data's lost forever, etc.

All I care about is recovering the 3 years worth of photos of my little boy growing up from the drive (which to add insult to injury, I was in the process of FINALLY backing up.) Is this something I can attempt on my own? Should I give it to an expert? Should I try and fix the problem myself? Is the virus - still on there obviously - going to cause problems with any of the above?

Thank you so much.