Windows 7: Boot Manager problems

We just got a new HP Pavilion p6-2220t with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. The setup started out fine, booted/rebooted several times - no problems. Then the updates started coming in and after one of them (have not been able to determine which one) the HP splash screen does not come up any more, it starts to boot, then the Windows Boot Manager comes up and we need to select "Windows 7", (no other OS installed) a simple "enter" does the trick and everything boots up and runs like it's supposed to. I have tried to set the boot time to less than 30 seconds, but the screen just sits there until I press enter. I have run bootrec /fixmbr several times, no change. I have gone through all the diagnostics offered, even run sfc /scannow, everything comes up ok. - If I press ESC when I am on the Boot Manager screen it starts to boot but then gets stuck in a loop which does not stop. I have to shut down with the power button. So I don't press ESC again, but those two actions might be related. -- It bugs me when things aren't running the way they are supposed to, so I kept reading, searching. I thought it might be a software conflict so I reformatted and started from scratch - same results. Any ideas/solution will be greatly appreciated.

With HP you're fighting the worst load of corrupting preinstalled bloatware in the industry, which throttles Windows 7 from its native perfect state.

So you've got the right idea to reinstall, but likely have some corrupt code in the boot sector. So first read over these steps to get a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7, then boot the Windows 7 installer, at first screen press Shift + F10 to open a Command Box, run Diskpart Clean Command to wipe the HD and boot sector, after it completes, close Command Box, click Install Now, create New and Format your partition(s) as desired to begin install to the first partition (after small boot partition created).

Be sure to stick with the step in the tutorial which explain how drivers are handled in Windows 7, the tools and methods which will get and keep a perfect install.

Hi, Gregrocker, you certainly rock! - I just read the clean install tutorial and will do this. (first I have to convince hubby - this is "his" new pc - to have me tinker with it yet another time ) -- The tutorial is very good and I will follow it exactly. My first step was making the recovery disks, so I'm set with that. - I know about the bloatware - uck! don't want any of it, and have uninstalled most of it via Revo Uninstaller, but that's after the fact - the bad boot info was in there already. - Thanks for the advice, I'll post with the results - probably in a few days. (I tend to be wordy in my posts, sorry about that...)