I have the same issue. Except my problem began after a power outage. I've had friends in the IT field check the computer out and finally took it in to Best Buy for them to look at it but no one seems to know what the problem is. Windows has been completely restored and still the same freeze happens during start up I was able to start the computer in safe mode like grumpyXP, but after Best Buy worked on it, I can't even do that anymore. One friend thought the problem could be the motherboard but Best Buy ran a diagnostic on all the hardware and found no problems. I don't think I have modem issues, but don't even know how I would check that out to make sure. Any suggestions?