Intermittent freezes at Windows startup screen

[Shepherd1000]

I've got an HP Pavilion n5495 laptop running Windows XP that has an intermittent problem of freezing up at the Windows startup screen as soon as that screen appears when booting. Again, this problem is an intermittent one that seems most likely to occur when I boot the computer after it has not been running for a few hours. I've tried many things to make the problem go away, including updating drivers, restoring to an earlier time, antiviral scans, anti-spyware scans, etc. I've even tried using the system recovery disks to restore the computer to its original factory state several different times. The latter seems to help for a couple of days, but then the problem again intermittently occurs. Any ideas what the problem could be? Could this be a hardware problem? If so, which part could be the likely culprit?

[Statica]

Have you looked at your system logs for information? A good idea is to turn on the /bootlog option through msconfig.

[Shepherd1000]

Yes, I've used the event viewer to check the logs, and I see no events that coincide with the time that my bootup freezes occur. I will try the /bootlog option through msconfig, as you suggested. What precisely will I be looking for once it's turned on?

[Statica]

the bootlog option creates a file BOOTLOG.TXT that gives a systematic readout of everything loading during windows boot. When your system freezes, shut down and use the repair console or a DOS bootdisk (only works if your system drive is in FAT/VFAT) and rename the file \bootlog.txt to error1.txt (this prevents from overwriting during the next boot).
My suggestion would be that, if the next time your system freezes again .. turn it off, run the recovery console again (or bootdisk as the case might be) and rename bootlog.txt to error2.txt
Once you have successfully booted to windows, open up error1.txt, error2.txt... and bootlog.txt (of course bootlog will now contain a log of events of what went right) and compare the lines to see what's going on. It is helpful for accuracy to have at least 2-3 failed error logs. Sometimes, critical hardware issues might cause your system to hang at different and random moments.

When you say you try to proceed from factory restore disks, do you recall what you exactly put in that seems to trigger these issues?

Finally, I don't know if your system is new or within warranty, and this is definitely not how a laptop is designed to work. If possible, try to get it exchanged. Not to be psychic, but if the factory conditioned restore disks don't help your system stability (I am assuming that you are adding no new software or hardware) then it is likely that it is a lemon.

[Shepherd1000]

Thanks for your responses, Statica. First of all, this is a laptop that I've been using just fine without any problems for over two years. The problem just began a couple of weeks ago. In terms of the software that I'm loading after recovery, I'm adding no software that wasn't previously successfully installed over the previous two years of use without the bootup freezes. The only things that I installed yesterday prior to the most recent recurrence of intermittent bootup freezes was a
Windows Critical Update, Microsoft Word 2000, PC Anywhere, and Real One Arcade. Again, all of these had previously been installed without consequence prior to a couple of weeks ago. I guess that Real One Arcade may be a newer version. But I've used the system restore function to a time prior to these installs, and the intermittent freezes still occur. I'm beginning to think that the problem is related to malfunctioning hardware, but if so, I haven't a clue as to what hardware item it might be.

[Shepherd1000]

Okay, here's an update. I've done a clean install of Windows XP, downloaded all critical Windows updates, and installed nothing more. Next I enabled the /bootlog option. Everything worked fine, and I was able to re-boot any number of times last night. I turned the computer off for the night. This morning I attempted to boot, and, as usually occurs when the computer hasn't been on for a few hours, it froze as soon as the Windows startup screen appeared. I checked the bootlog, and it turns out that *nothing* got logged, indicating that Windows didn't even begin to boot prior to the freeze. So, I'm thinking that the problem is likely hardware. Does anyone disagree? Does anyone have any idea what hardware items could cause a problem such as this? Thanks for any help.

[Shepherd1000]

Please, somebody help!

[glc]

Sounds like hardware to me. Have you contacted HP?

[Shepherd1000]

Thanks for the confirmation, glc. Yes, I've contacted HP and am aware of some local HP service centers. I've just been reluctant to take the computer in for service, given the intermittent nature of the problem. I don't want to pay someone to tell me that they couldn't get the computer to freeze on them while they had it. But I'm probably going to have to take it in anyway. Hopefully the problem will turn up on some of their diagnostics.