IBM Thinkpad Z51 freezes at password entry screen

Hi everybody,

I have a problem I was hoping someone could help me with. I have an IBM Thinkpad Z51 that I got through school. It has worked fine until now but now whenever I boot the laptop, it freezes at the password entry screen. I can boot in safemode no problem, but as soon as I enter the first letter of my password in normal mode, the computer freezes. Sometimes, after pressing F8 and using the last known good configurations like 8 times I can finally enter my password but it is very frustrating. I called the school but they won't help me because I have graduated. I find it weird that I can boot in safe mode no problem.

Thank you for the assistance.

Andy

Laptop Specs.

Windows XP Professional Version 2002
Service Pack 2
Intel Pentium M Processor 1.60 GHz
598 Mhz, 504 MB of RAM
Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME video processor