Dell Latitude D830 - Boot Up issues

I have a D830 LT that is having a peculiar problem. 

 

On occasion, when I power on the laptop the power light will light up and the HD light will flash once and that's it.  If we hit the power switch enough times the system will usually boot and then operate without any issues.

 

There are no errors in the event view logs that would indicate any other issues with the HD. The hard drive does spin up without any issue once it seems to "catch".

 

The issue seems to occur whether the laptop is in the dock or not. 

 

Attempts to get support form our internal IT group has not been to fruitful.  They have recommended removing the HD and seeing if it boots up, but since the problem is sporadic...i'm not sure how that would help or what that would show.

 

What I'd like to know is where/how to diagnose further to determine what my next steps are.  I'm thinking maybe its a bad spot on the HD motor and so I'm gonna order a HD from dell.  But I'd like to think that's not a waste of $$. 

 

Since I'm not sure where the problem lies, its not possible for me to call Dell Support to get a tech out without it being a waste of everyone's time.

 

I think...