Windows XP Startup Lock right before Desktop loads

[SlyFox]

Hey all,

Well, this problem just popped up on my ol' trusty laptop, so I searched around and found this site - thought I'd give it a shot, seeing as many people here are very knowledgable about computers.

Now, I haven't been doing anything out of the ordinary on my laptop - simply turned it off earlier this afternoon, and when I came back a few hours later to turn it back on, it wouldn't load any further than the Windows XP Welcome screen, which normally comes up right before my desktop loads.  My mouse pops up, and I can even move it around.

I tried loading from Last Known Good Configuration, tried loading in Safe Mode, still no dice.  I ain't getting past this screen.  Please, please, PLEASE tell me I don't have to reformat - I JUST picked up a bunch of CDs today, and was going to back up all my pictures and music and such, but then my comp. started doing this (it's karma, I swear it must be!).  Could it even be a problem with my hard drive, or battery, maybe?

Well, thanks in advance to anyone who helps me out in advance - I really appreciate it.

-Fox

[Eric_Schmidt]

Do you have another HDD to install in your laptop so that you can reload WinXP? You may not want to go any further with your old HDD if you have valuable data on it (photos, etc). If your laptop has provisions for installing a second HDD, there is a good chance that you can retrieve your vaulable data.

[ken]

I had this problem happen on my desktop.  I would boot up my pc and when windows loads it gets locked for a few minutes or i would have to restart and wait again but I downloaded AVG virus scanner and it cleared out alot of stuff and it seemed to work.  Don't know if there is any correlation between them but it doesn't hurt to try.