Windows XP startup page hangs

When booting up my PC the XP banner screen comes up and hangs there.
It will not go ahead and come to a full desktop page. This only
happens when I completely shut down my PC and then restart it later
on. If I leave my PC on all the time I do not not have a problem. Do
you folks have any suggestions how I can cure this problem?
Thanks for your help.

Start the PC and see if there is anything in the Event Viewer that mightshow

Start the PC and see if there is anything in the Event Viewer that might
show what driver is hanging or failing to load. With that information it
will be a lot easier for suggestions. (Start> Control Panel >Administrative
Tools > Event Viewer. Check out Application and System for errors at the
time when you started the computer.

If you do not find out what is causing the problem quickly then do a
reinstall of windows. Either a repair install (when you keep all programs
and files but just install Windows over it is self) or a complete one (When
you lose everything and have to reinstall all the programs and files too).
Either of these might save you hours of frustration. It has for me in the
past with this sort of problem.

Pete, the next time this happens restart and tap F8.

Pete, the next time this happens restart and tap F8. If you get a Menu
select Safe Mode. If XP loads Ok, do a system restore.  Start>All
Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore.  Go back a week or so if
possible.