MBW 2TB - Unable to boot-up and shutdown

When I turn on my MBW (using the power switch) it gets stuck. Only the first (bottom) light shows. The hard drive appears to be spinning but the boot sequence seems to be stuck. I am unable to shut down using the power switch and can only so by pulling out the power cord. I have tried using the reset button but this has no effect. I cannot access the HD in any way. One observation is that over the last few months accessing files has been getting slower. I use my MBW mainly to store videos (AVI) and music (MP3) files. I have checked the Forums and FAQs and see that this problem is experienced by others but no solution as yet!

I say replacement.