My laptop won’t turn on when power button is pressed - white power light on

[billavery88]

My HP envy is around five years old. Sometime last year, it began making sudden noises that sounded like a power drill, coming from the center of the machine. Whenever I would boot it up, I would get a black screen with a message saying it detected an issue with the hard drive. After this, the fan also began to sound mildly raspy, and would sound very loud and fast doing simple tasks, like browsing the internet or streaming YouTube videos.

Soon after, whenever it was turned off, I would have to press the power button multiple times before it would turn on. The periods of i me having to do this would become longer, until it decided to not turn on at all.

When it is plugged in, there is a white power light that does not blink and only turns off when I remove the charger.

I took it to my local Staples, to see if they if they could help. I described the issue, but they did not open it up to look at it or anything, basically saying to get a new laptop.

I have done the "hold down power button for 1 minute" diagnostic test and I do not think it is the battery. The battery holds its charge and was replaced fairly recently. Aside from the hard drive issue, I suspect there is an issue with the motherboard as well. Right now I cannot afford a new laptop, and just want to see if I can get this old one on and running, maybe even fix it myself. Tech gurus of the internet, is this possible or should I just give up?

I hope I gave sufficient enough detail on my issue. Thank you for reading. 

[WAWood]

It's really not possible to diagnose laptop problems accurately without hands-on access to the device -- which we do not have.

Your comments about the power button indicate failing contacts -- which would require the button and contacts to be replaced.

The "drill" sound you mentioned  could only have been the fan because nothing else inside the laptop can make such a noise, and if that is failing, it would need to be replaced.

Laptop motherboards are neither cheap nor easy to replace -- and not something I recommend spending money on having done.

I can see why Staples simply said to replace it -- as the total costs of getting all this stuff repaired could easily cost more than simply replacing the laptop.