I had already realized it was spinning because when I pressed on the top of
the hard disk drive, I could hear a whirr as I made something touch
something else.


Most laptop hard drives have a label that says DO NOT PRESS HERE!

A hard drive depends on a 100% dust free interior to work correctly.
By causing the cover to rub on the spindle that holds the disc in place,
even for a moment, you have likely ground off a few tiny metal particles.
These particles will probably end up between the heads and the disc.
This will scratch the disc and damage the heads.
That hard drive is no longer reliable.
If you get the system up and runnig you should retrieve all the data you
can off that drive then destroy it (to prevent someone else from
stealing your information.)