'Windows is loading files' and long period without ability to turn on

[SaintLM]

Hi, I have a Hp Pavillion dm3-1060ea which I have had for a year. It is covered by warranty but before sending it off to be repaired I wondered if there is anything I can do to fix the problem.

This is what happened,

I turned on my computer and after a couple of seconds it froze. After leaving it for a while and attempting ctrl alt delete I forced shut down.

 After this the computer would not turn on, the light above the moue pad would turn on and then after whirring (I assume the fan moving as normal) the noise would stop and then the light would turn off and the computer would be off. At no point during this did the screen light up.

I assumed I was going to have to send the computer back under warranty but attempted to turn on the computer every so often for a couple of days. However, earlier today I tried again and it turned on with the blue HP sign appearing and moved to a screen saying 'Windows is loading files' the computer has now frozen (I assume this because it has not moved in an hour) and I do not know what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ( I don't want to force shutdown after last time unless it is recommended)

Thanks in advance 

[Knute]

Shut it down and restart, after the HP spash screen disappears start pressing F8 until you get a menu for safe mode.  Try last known good configuration and see if you can get into windows.  If not, shut it down again, reboot, F8, and enter safe mode with networking and then do a check disk:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Check-your-hard-disk-for-errors

If that doesn't work or you cannot get there, then go into the BIOS (press F10 when you see the HP splash screen on bootup) and navigate to the Diagnostics Tab, then select Memory and/or Hard Drive tests and see if either of those return an error.