Laptop fault?

[#1]

I've got a rather curious problem with my laptop:
I'm running Vista Home Premium.
At boot up it will stop just before Windows is about to start, I'll try to explain:
It goes through normal boot to the point when a cursor arrow appears on screen, next a small coloured animated ring that will follow the cursor arrow if the mouse is moved usually appears alongside the arrow, immediately followed by the four coloured Windows logo, followed by the Vista logon window a passcode is typed in and everything Windows should start normally...
Except from time to time the boot will "lock up" at the point just before the animated ring should appear. Whilst the cursor arrow is on screen and responds normally to the mouse nothing else will happen, the disk activity LED stops. It will stay in this condition for evermore if I let it.
When it first happened I thought a Windows update may be in progress, but this is not the case.
I can get around this problem by switching off using the on/off button, then from the start error menu that appears after switching back on selecting any of the "safe mode" options, from there selecting a "restart" will start Windows normally after which everything is absolutely normal.
This doesn't happen every time. Fairly obviously the HDD comes under suspicion but, once Windows has actually started there appears to be no problem with it. The problem seems to be that Windows actually fails to start occasionally.
Any ideas?

[#2]

Sounds very much like this problem
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,81734.0.html
And I still haven`t managed to cure it..... even with using the "installation disc"...
(insert the installation disc..... let it run, and do the normal choose language, etc. UNTIL you get the INSTALL screen.... on this screen on the bottom left, there is an option to "repair"... choose this and then you can "Repair Start up"....  (after it has completed, check the LOG to make sure everything {including th OS boot correectly} has been done correctly)
It did not work for me, but it was not the "original" installation disc....... it may work for you...
Still trying to do a work around with Linux Mint 8  (3rd download in progress.......)

[#3]

Thanks Gerry, It sounds exactly like the same fault. Oddly (or maybe not) my laptop is an HP as well.
Fact is I can get it working by fiddling, but of course shouldn't have to, and there's no predicting when it will happen, can work normally for weeks, then every start up for a week will have this problem then return to normal again.
Did you look into HP's knowledge base? if not I will, but I expect with all the correspondence in your posts that's already been tried.

[#4]

No. I haven`t been on  the HP website.... it is not a problem for me specifically, it is the laptop belonging to a Student who is staying with us... however, he goes back to Italy tomorrow, and says he will get the shop at home to have a look, and maybe have to do a re-install...
as a matter of interest, I have tried to access his files via Linux Phoenix 2009.4  LIVE CD... however, it is a bit too complicated for me, so I posted in the Linux section of the forum, and got a suggestion to try Linux Mint 8.... Live CD.... took three downloads before getting a good copy...... although it is a Zip file, it ends with .iso on the file name, just put a CD R or RW in your drive, callup your cd writing prog, and "Burn Image"... it does it all... chucks out the disc on completion and it is ready to use..... put it in the laptop, boot up to CD Rom... and away you go... takes a little while to organize itself, but eventually gives a similar desktop and layout to windows, so not too difficult to use it to retrieve stuff, if you cant get into windows directly.... 
Well worth the 3 or 4 hours downloading time! ! !... To keep it..... Just in case !

[#5]

Well one thing I have discovered while searching round the web for an answer for this (so far unsuccessfully) is that shutter's Italian and I are by no means the only one's with this kind of problem. There are plenty of questions but not many answers other than blaming the HDD, which given that (in my case) in all other respects (seems to) works normally.
Many answers involve "safe mode" starts (some reportedly fail to start in that as well -mine never has failed-) but I haven't yet found another instance of my "shot in the dark" of selecting "restart" from safe mode. Which so far, possibly luckily has not let me down.

[#6]

Did you also find out if it was only affecting HP laptops?  or were others mentioned?      If only  HP, then possibly is a HDD prob or their copies of the OS that they put on the machine....
When I ran Linux Phoenix Live CD on his HP, it ran with no problems.... also the Windows Boot CD started the boot procedure, but still the machine "hung" just before login....

[#7]

Er! yes it did seem to be confined to HP's including one report of an HP desktop, which is worrying as my desktop is also HP.
However I ran the F11 system file check/repair which didn't actually report any problems, but the fault hasn't recurred yet. but the PC has only been restarted 4 times since so its early days yet.