As Bertrum says, the beep codes might help. A beeping computer can often mean that there's something serious wrong but, equally, it can be something incredibly minor.
Sometimes a key sticking down on a keyboard can be the cause of the problem. (Unplug the keyboard and see if the computer will boot normally).
If the worst comes to the worst though, with the computer being declared dead, the information on the hard drive can probably still be retrieved fairly easily. (You simply need a cheap USB caddy and the instructions for 'taking ownership' of a drive, which we can provide on request).