I have a problem that sounds much the same as http://superuser.com/questions/83101/how-to-diagnose-a-freeze-on-startup-in-windows-xp

About every 2nd or 3rd boot, XP-Pro freezes on the Welcome page (the one showing the user name icons). The mouse moves the cursor OK, but clicking on an icon does nothing, and neither does any keystroke. If you press too many keys there is a beep and after that the mouse won't move the cursor anymore.

The work-around is always to reboot into Safe mode and request a CHKDSK /R

After this, the next boot is fine. There are no related entries in the Event log when the problem occurs. The only two entries are:

• "Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 5.01. 2600 Service Pack 3 Multiprocessor Free."
• "The Event log service was started."

Update 1: Many thanks for that but I found no problems with any diagnostics I have run.

But, I have managed to locate, and code round, the source of the problem - which is with whatever processing goes on behind the XP Welcome (as opposed to "classic") login screen.

Unfortunately, having classic login means you don't get the useful Fast User Switching (FUS) login/switch mode. So, to retain this, my fix is:

• Add a Windows shutdown script (using gpedit.msc) to force "classic" mode for the first logon after next XP startup, by running:

reg add "hklm\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v LogonType /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

• Add a Scheduled Task to run at User Logon that enables Welcome screen (and hence FUS) by running the same command with 1 instead of 0 after the /d flag. The task is run as a privileged user (who can run "reg add").