xp home freezing after monitor blinks

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

i ama novice so please bear with me. Recently when I turn my pc on it is
having problems with booting windows. it tries to load but then the screen
reverts back to the black screen before the welcome screen comes up. this is
a viscious cycle that repeats itself until I finally got the boot screen
option. I chose last known good config. and it started just fine. I also
switched plug in, and switched places on the power outlet thingy. (sorry).
Switching cords to different plug ins, outlets it would work maybe 2 out of
10 times. Now it has started freezing up while on the internet. The page I'm
viewing stays but mouse freezes, will not respond to cntr'l, alt, del. the
only thing that works in the reset, if windows does load, i might be able to
get online and stay for hours with no problems but most of the time the
screen will just turn black and we go through the same cycle of trying to
load again. one thing that i have noticed that i will get a little blink,
like my monitor has had an interruption in power, not enough to close out
screen, but just a flicker. this will always cause it to freeze uo, ALWAYS.
For about an hour one day, I would change slots on the power outlet and turn
power on and it would go back off instantly. I am limited in knowledge but I
have an althlon amd 1800/256mg ram, xp home with service pk.2. could this
have anything to do with power supply problems, hardware, or what? at my wits
end, any help appreciated. system restore didn't work. haven't installed any
new hw or sw. any suggestions?