Just got a message today from Microshaft that might be useful. Does your laptop by any chance show an error on startup with winsvs.* winhst32.* (apols - memory working here. Didn't realise until I saw this thread) or anything remotely similar?
Apparently there is a recognised issue with Service Pack 2 and a lot of machines are not closing down cleanly. The warning flags on startup because it was too busy trying to shut down at the time. The good news is that Micrshaft have fessed up and have a download to address the issue.
Vague, but I hope it helps.
Conan