Blinking Caps Lock and Scroll Lock when booting

Dell Inspiron E1705 Windows XP So here's the story... I used it pretty much daily and never had any issues. I was using it one day and the turned it off when I left the house. When I returned and hit the power button to turn it on the following happened... { The power light lit up- indicating that it was plugged in. The Number Lock light light up and remained lit. The Caps Lock light began to blink. The Scroll Lock light began to blink. -The Caps Lock and Scroll lock blink in synchronization. I could hear the hard drive start up. All of the above continues for about 42 seconds. After that everything just turns off. } I have no idea what the problem is, how to diagnose it, or how to fix it. I'm hoping that the combination of blinking/non-blinking lights may point to a specific problem but have been unable to find the meaning of this or if there is indeed a meaning at all. There is no visible damage that my untrained eye can detect. Thank you for your help and suggestions.