I tried that /SOS thing, and it didn't stop at any file...i guess it must have been one of the successful boots then.
If it WERE to have a problem at "windows is starting...", how would it present itself when the /SOS option is selected??
Because i didn't see any file list or progress bar, etc when it was starting up so what did you mean when you previously said, "...hangs on a particular system file"??
OS XP home SP2
3.4ghz, 1Gb RAM, ATI 9600, MSI 6567
Avast! AV, Comodo FW, Spybot (not started at bootup)
Medium expertise at computery things =D