restart

So I'm having a rather big problem. I can't get this damn thing to restart normally. It's restarting in safe mode fine more or less, but if I try to restart normally it just sits at the black "Windows XP" screen and the keyboard locks up. Any help would be appreciated.

Introduction: I am reposting here an essay that I posted a couple of weeks ago, but that sank through the board with very few views and zero replies. I think that perhaps I didn't give it a good enough hook. The essay is a revision - with substantial improvements and clarifications - of one...