Power button on Studio 17 laptop

Has anyone had an issue with the power button on the studio 17 laptop? I'm trying to remotely fix my fathers laptop, but not having much luck.

When he goes to switch the laptop on using the power button found on the right hand side of the hinge, there is no response from the laptop. None at all. I've had him take the AC power out and the battery, and the strange thing is that when he reinserts the AC power (without the battery), the laptop starts to boot and displays the Dell splash screen (for a second or two) and then goes back to looking as if there is no power going to the laptop. This is all occurring without pressing the power button.

To my mind this is very strange, I wouldn't have thought that the laptop would start to boot unless you pressed the power button, and leads me to think that maybe the power button has become stuck. This would mean that the laptop would start to work when power was fed to the laptop, but also switch it off shortly afterwards.

Bearing in mind that my father is of an age where when he sees a power button he probably imagines that he needs to push it in a quarter of an inch to make it work (slight exaggeration but you know what I mean), does this sound like it may be the issue? Has anyone else experienced similar?

Thanks in advance