Would the broken power switch cap lead to unstable performance of my computer?

[kwfine]

Hi all,

My PC is 3 years old, running windows XP SP3, 3.05GHZ CPU,
2GB RAM with a 130GB HDD powered by a CoolerMaster 550W PSU.

Recently, my computer's power button cap was broken and I removed it.
I used a pen to touch the small projection on the power switch (as shown in red circle) to turn on my PC,

Since then, something strange kept happening:
I could hear some grinding noise from my PC, and
I could not see the Windows loading even thought the PC had been turned on.
At first I was thinking if the noise was caused by the HDD,
so I disconnected the Power Cable from the HDD to see if the problem would persist.
But after I had disconnected the power cable from the HDD and turned the PC on,
I could still hear something keep grinding every 10 seconds for a minute and then the PC turned off by itself.
Sometimes I could go to the BIOS setup screen but sometimes I coundn't because the PC just kept rebooting every ten or twenty seconds.

I have no idea what exactly happen and why there have been some grinding noise out from my PC even if the HDD had been disconnected from the PSU.

Could you give me some idea please?

Thank you.

Kitty

[Salmon Trout]

Possibly a fan.

[patio]

I've also heard HDD's create that sound...for your sake let's hope it's the fan...

[Salmon Trout]

I've also heard HDD's create that sound...for your sake let's hope it's the fan...

after I had disconnected the power cable from the HDD and turned the PC on,
I could still hear something keep grinding

[patio]

I sit corrected...

[Salmon Trout]

Could be a CD drive. The OP should start the machine with the cover removed and observe (watch and listen) carefully.

[Kurtiskain]

Could be a CD drive. The OP should start the machine with the cover removed and observe (watch and listen) carefully.

Agreed. It could simply be a loose component being vibrated by a fan, or if the PSU has had heat issues the fan in the PSU itself and the rebooting could be due to a faulty PSU.

[kwfine]

one more strange thing I have to mention is that when I plugged the power cable of the computer to the power outlet,
my PC would immediately turn on even if I had not pressed the power button.
Is it related to CMOS problem?
My computer clock is sometimes wrong and I need to update the computer time by "time.windows.com"

[Linux711]

My first thought was a cable touching a fan.

My computer clock is sometimes wrong and I need to update the computer time by "time.windows.com"

That is a CMOS problem. Prob need a new battery.

one more strange thing I have to mention is that when I plugged the power cable of the computer to the power outlet,
my PC would immediately turn on even if I had not pressed the power button.

Many comps are set to boot up after power failure, so if you just unplug your comp to turn it off, that's probably why it starts up like that. There is usually a BIOS setting that controls this. Something like 'power after failure'.