My laptop wont restart (..it keeps starting up and stopping) and I think its time to try rebooting with the help of a disc. I keep reading about using the XP CD for Repair/Recovery. I have a "Recovery and Applications/Drivers DVD" that came with my laptop - is this the same thing? I don't want to risk loosing any data.

That depends largely on the maker of the Recovery CD-- I have seen them that do allow for non-destructive recovery-- but they are the exception rather than than the rule.
The thing is to check first ... or if you have a friend with a CD-burner you could use:

UBCD for Windows

It has a ton of tools all (100% FREE) -- for fixing all manner of issues.
P.S. If you fix your PC with this... consider a small donation ( even $5.00) it is entirely supported by user donations-- not mandatory-- but websites cost money.

Thanks for taking time to respond to my issue (...this is a great forum - tons of info and great advice from nice people just wanting to help others. ...real random acts of kindness at work!) Anyway, I'm happy to report that my issue has been resolved! After looking at several fix options, it came down to installing a new hard drive and copying the old files. It was fairly cheap to do and now I have 4x the storage with my new hard drive! thanks again...have a great weekend.

Great news-- glad to hear it-- marked as resolved.