I'm having a similar problem however I can't get HBB to load from either USBLoader GX HBC or the regular HBC. It just goes into that endless loop you mentioned.
HBB will load if I insert an SD card, but I don't normally use an SD card for anything. I want everything on the USB HDD...
I have seen the new 52 and dcau animated movies I think they take every opportunity to say his name "Dick", and they say it more often than should have been necessary