Hi can't give you any difinative answers but maybe a few ideas.
you mentioned a power pack do you mean a power supply, if so that would be my first thought. does it last any longer if you just leave it on and do no work ? Reformatting the hard drive is ok but you may need to take it back further than that, most makers can supply progs that burn an iso file to a cd that will boot your system and then diagnose and possibly over write or destroy the format so you can really start again. Another idea might be to use the xp cd to boot up and then leave it at some point (don't click next somewhere) and see how long it stays running. might point you away from hard ware fault.
pierssy
March 2008