I would try a hard reset, as described
here, for starters...but it could be a hardware issue fro the sounds of it, since it doesn't complete the post. The HP support articles that relate to your startup or boot problem are pretty specific, so take a look at the lists
here and
here, and try to apply what seems most pertinent to your situation...Work through the steps gradually, maybe starting
here. and gradually looking into the system recovery options if you can't get it to boot. You will be able to run chkdsk from a recovery cd or the recovery console if you have it installed, to check the hard drive for corruption...
Here is a general troubleshooting startup guide that has some helpful info, and if you google troubleshoot xp startup (or vista, as the case may be) you'll get some hits for MS articles that will also be helpful...
If you get any specific error messages or blue screen stop codes and want help diagnosing them, report back...
Good luck.
I hope this information allows you to resolve this issue. If you need further assistance, please post back with a comment to this thread.
If I've managed to answer your question or solve a problem, please take just a moment to rate this post....thanks!