What should I do when my laptop will not turn on?

'Will not turn on' covers several different faults: no power at all, power but no display, or power and display but no boot. Working out which one you have narrows the problem enormously, and each has a different fix.

What you'll need

• Charger
• Different power socket (optional)
• External monitor (optional)

Step by step

1. Connect the charger and look for any light on the laptop.A charging light means power is reaching it. No light means the fault is the socket, cable, adapter or charging port.
2. Leave it charging for at least 30 minutes.A deeply discharged battery needs time before it will accept a start command. This alone resolves many cases.
3. Try a different socket and, if possible, a different charger.Chargers fail more often than laptops. A wall socket and cable test costs nothing.
4. Do a power reset.Disconnect everything, hold the power button for 30 seconds, reconnect the charger and try again. This clears residual charge that can hold the machine in a dead state.
5. Listen and feel for signs of life.Fan noise, drive activity, warmth, keyboard backlight. Any of these means it is powering on and the problem is the display.
6. If it powers on but shows nothing, test the screen.Connect an external monitor. A picture there means the laptop is fine and the screen, cable or backlight is the fault.
7. Shine a torch at the screen at an angle.A very faint visible image means the backlight has failed while the panel still works — a repairable and relatively common fault.
8. Remove external devices and try again.USB drives, docks and hubs can prevent a machine booting. Disconnect everything and retry with nothing attached.

Tips

• If the machine powers on and then off in a loop, that usually indicates a hardware fault and is worth professional diagnosis rather than repeated attempts.
• Note any beep pattern or blinking light code at power-on. Manufacturers document these and they identify the failed component precisely.
• If a laptop has been in a cold car or a very cold room, let it reach room temperature before trying. Condensation and cold batteries both cause this.

Common mistakes

• Concluding it is dead after a minute on charge — A fully drained battery can need twenty to thirty minutes before it will start. Patience first.
• Repeatedly pressing the power button — It achieves nothing and can interrupt a boot that had begun. One press, then wait.
• Not testing the charger — Power adapters and cables fail far more often than laptops, and it is the cheapest thing to rule out.

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