Mine did this, but plugging it into another charger seems to have resolved the problem. It appears that if the tablet is dead and plugged in, it can charge for a short time and start the boot sequence -- if the charger cannot supply enough current for the running device the boot sequence aborts and the cycle starts over again. The power & volume up combination has no effect because the boot loader is invoked and it aborts like the normal boot sequence. So, find a charger that can supply enough current, it should then boot, then shut it down to charge properly.
Caution, the tablet should never reach a usable charge while cycling on and off. I would expect prolonged cycling to dramatically reduce battery life as well.