I'd strongly recommend replacing the battery as a first step in your troubleshooting (just as rjfvillarosa recommended), otherwise you face losing a lot of time just getting the system to start. By replacing the battery 1st thing, you simplify the troubleshooting a great deal, too.
Is this a picture of your motherboard?
http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/spi...ber=320756-001
(the CMOS ["Bios"] battery is the little coin-shaped battery you can see up next to the two memory slots, on the side of the motherboard away from where you plug in your keyboard and mouse. The battery is possibly a Sony 2032 type = should be available at your local computer store or electronics store for about $1.50 USD. You can replace it by following rjfvillarosa's instructions posted earlier. If this is not the same as your motherboard, you can still use the illustration to see what the battery should look like on your board.)
Compaq Support article explaining how to enter Bios Setup & other info:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...name=c00007683
(basically, for your model, you press F10 as soon as you see the red Compaq splash screen at startup)
Depending on the outcome of replacing the CMOS battery and resetting your Bios Setup values, you may then want to run some diagnostics. Look in your Program menus for the Compaq Diagnostics, which can test several parts of your computer and report any problems it finds. If you can't find the diagnostics anywhere, you can try downloading and running a version for a webpage such as this
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...wareitem=33684
Try to make sure it's compatible with your exact model #, which you can find on a sticker, usually on the back of the case.
Best of luck
. . . Gary
[P.S. ...make sure that the time & date are correct while you are in Bios Setup]