Computer locks during boot up

Hello,
I am looking for help with a problem that recently started. My computer seems to lock up during boot (specifically, the pick your operating system screen). Typically this screen will count down a few seconds and then default to Windows XP. The last few days, my computer will just sit on that screen. I power off and back on and it does the same thing. If I completely unplug the entire system from the wall jack and plug back in, I can boot up just fine. I don't understand why this might be happening. I would appreciate any help or advice you may have.

Thanks!

 

Thank you very much for the advice, however, I have gone through each step of the Computer Maintenance Guide you provided. Once finished, I attempt to restart and it hangs up at the same Operating System screen. I'm open to any advice or ideas.

Thanks!

 

Hello,

Most likely it was caused by conflict, especially the memory, the network card. You may use several different memory banks, so you may unplug them and test one by one.
Good luck!

 

I'm not exactly an "advanced" user. Can anyone provide some basic instructions on how to do this?

Another note, I recently added a new HP all-in-one printer. It was soon after that when this started happening. Could they be related?

 

I have attached a screen shot from CC Cleaner -> Tools -> Startup. Thanks!

 

If you made a new hardware installation, update the BIOS. (after making a backup)

 

Here is the "maximized" startup list from CCleaner. I am testing the ram and bios here shortly. Thanks.

 

Two things to get absolutely clear.

1) It boots up fine if you unplug and re-plug.
2) It hangs, EVEN before it selects an OS.

If I was to venture a guess, I'd say it hardware related. Could be a failing capacitor - not providing the juice when required. Yep, hardware can be as surprising as software.

The UNPLUG - REPLUG shouts hardware to me. But wait for more responses...cheers

 

Thank you all for the advice. I did one step at a time and the very last step was updating the bios from the HP website. Once that was done, the computer restarted and booted right up. Doesn't appear to be having any problems now. Thank you to everyone that responded and offered help. Much appreciated! Have a great day everyone!