hp computer boot up problem

[harvyne]

hello everyone
i have an hp system i am trying to fix for someone.
when i turn the system on it will boot up fine all the way to the xp loading screen and then i will see a blue screen with some type of message on it but it reboots itself to fast to even get to read anything. it will continuosly go through this sequence over and over again. i have tested the memory and the processor by changing them out and back again. also switching the ram to different slots with no change. the case fans and cpu fans also are working properly. the system is about 4 yrs old and is from florida and its owner kept her house rather hot all the time. also it has been used on average 1-2 hours a day with most days not being used. my imediate assumption is thinking maybe an overheating problem.
amd thunderbird 1.3 cpu
128mb sdram
5400 rpm hdd
hp cdrw drive
standard hp psu of the time(probably 200-250w)
standard hp baby board
i hope all this info is helpful and i look forward to recieving your help

[Dragono]

Battery may be dead.
Try doing a boot with only mobo, proccessor, and ram.

[ErnieK]

Try booting into safe mode.

If successful go to System Properties. Next select ADVANCED.

Next go to START AND RECOVERY then look down to the bottom of the page and you will see 3 (three) boxes take the ticks out the bottom two of them (leave the one for System Log)and this will (should) stop the computer rebooting automatically when it crashes and enable you to see the error message. Also whilst there do a search for and have a look at the sytem log to see if anything is in there.

[ranjit jacob]

go to HP.COM and d/w pc doctor offline ,its a Dos based application which would check for any h/w malfunctioning, just go to HP.com and search for " pc doctor offline " .also try to select vga mode by pressing on F8 while system boots up.