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







Possibly a fan.
I've also heard HDD's create that sound...for your sake let's hope it's the fan... Quote from: patio on November 02, 2011, 03:44:29 PM

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

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

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

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.