XP Boot Hangs

I have a laptop, HP ZE5300 2.4ghz, 512mb RAM, 40gig HD, Windows XP Home. I have not added any hardware or software recently, and I run the laptop daily. The problem I am having is I shutdown my laptop normally, and now when I attempt to boot it up it hangs. My background bmp shows up and the start-up sound plays, but that is all. None of the GUI shows up, and all I can do is access Taskmanager. I have tried all of the boot options with the same results. Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce