Lock up system boots, select application and everything locks up.

[bg321]

The computer boots.  Then I select any program,  and everything lock ups.  All I can see moving is the mouse. It does this over and over.

[WAWood]

@bg321 

My guess would be that this is a drive issue -- here's why:

When you click on an app, the OS attempt to read the files for that app from the drive.  Once the files are read and loaded into memory, the OS returns control to you.  That usually takes only a few seconds.

But when the drive is corrupted, the OS tries over and over and over ... until it times out.  In the meantime, it has NOT returned control to you because it is waiting for the files to be read and loaded.

If your PC is new enough to support UEFI, you can use these steps to test the hard drive: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, to check the drive you have to follow these steps:
1) Press Esc key repeatedly, several times a second, while rebooting the laptop. Do NOT hold the key down, just press it over and over.
2) Eventually, you will see an HP Startup Menu -- that will look similar to the image below ...

3) press the Function key for testing the hard drive (usually F2) and let it run.

Please report back the test results.