Aspire 3020 won't load Windows

My friend just gave me his Aspire 3020 and plainly said "make it work." Technically it's a 3023WLMi if that matters.

Upon start up, the screen reads "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration..." A blue screen soon appears with "Windows Setup" at the top left. The bottom of the screen then goes through several different things saying "Setup is loading files (insert random files here)..." The names include IEEE 1394, ACPI, Video/Storage drivers, I/O controllers, etc. At the end of the sequence it reads "Setup is starting Windows." It never goes any farther than this. Nothing is moving or movable so I'm not sure if it's freezing or just failing to load. I've let it sit for a while thinking maybe it just took a long time to start, but had no success.

I need help. I'd rather sort it out than give it back to him saying I gave up this easily. Anything is appreciated, thanks guys.

 

I forgot to add: there is some kind of OS recovery CD in the drive. No idea if it came with the computer or if it's from another. If the disc isn't in the drive, the screen just continually reads "No OS found."

 

Your friend may have screwed with the main boot record somehow. Get yourself a GRUB boot disk and repair it. If Windows is still on the computer, you will be able to boot into it, and fix the MBR too. If it isn't, you might find that Acer's factory recovery partition is still there, and if so, you can boot it and restore Windows.

 

What is a GRUB boot disk? What is the main boot record and how do I fix it? How would I find the recovery partition and how do I boot it to restore Windows? Sorry, but I'm worthless when it comes to software crap.