This problem is all strangely familiar... the first release of OS 2007 back in Jan 2007 had a different but equaly annoying boot problem (boot loop, bug #957) and it seems like OS 2008 has suffered a similar fate.

A temporary workaround appears to now exist (post #137 - thanks Steph69) and it's only a matter of time until Nokia/Maemo identify the root cause and propose a permanent software solution.