Startup issues

[Michael Brian Bentley]

>Good morning,
>
>This morning when I turn on my iMac (Intel), it takes forever to 
>start up, and then it makes a dozen or more attempts to load the 
>desktop, and then the desktop is almost unresponsive after that. I 
>know this is a dumb question, but I've never had a problem on a Mac 
>before -- what should I do next?
>
>Writing from my iBook which thankfully I backed up my files to last night,
>
>Steven

If you look at Activity Monitor or run "top" under a terminal window, 
is any application/process/task listed therein sticking out like a 
proverbial sore thumb, sucking down 40% or more of the cpu on a 
continual basis?

How exactly did you perform the backup from the iMac to the iBook? 
Was that the very last thing you did the evening before?

 From your description, it doesn't say explicitly that you've rebooted 
the machine once or twice and got the same sluggish behavior, but it 
implies so. Is this the case?