I am desperately trying to find an answer. My computer for the past three plus WEEKS has been getting stuck on the windows xp load page ( after you start computer, with the blue bar). It will stay there for hours (record was 24 hours straight). I have rebooted xp already, after a system recovery did not work. I can not figure out why it keeps on doing this. If anyone has any ideas, please, I'm begging you, throw them my way. 
Thanks for your time.
       Michael OK have you got the original windows x-p DISC , if you have load it in and restart with disc in machine , DO NOT RE-FORMAT , repair windows x-p  and see what happens....

Tony linky dinky Thanks for the suggestions, but when I first rebooted xp, I actually tried to repair it, and that was not an option on my xp cd (at least not that I could find). However, it did allow me to reboot without losing my files...which was good. Even after the XP reboot, it still was having this problem. It usually takes me 1-3 manual shut downs to get the computer started, either in last known good configuration or I can start it in safe mode, then restart.
Any other suggestions? Thanks again for your time.
         MichaelOk have you ran any virus checks lately , what protection do you have ...... and how often do you scan for virus's and spyware... well we all know we boot from are hard drives something is STOPPING you from reaching it at a normal time figuring  out what depends on the information you give us  , i have a feeling theres  a error on your hard drive or you have a infection.....also how big is your hard drive you MAY need to do a system defrag......



Tony I have AT&T Yahoo anti-virus, which I just ran yesterday. I run ad-aware and spybot every few days. Yesterday I performed an error-check on the hard-drive, and told it to fix all problems. When I came down it was done, and on the sign-in screen (so I don't know if there were any problems fixed). I defragged about two weeks ago. So....with that info, give me what you got 
Thanks again.
       Michael