Laptop won't turn on? No lights, or lights but a black screen: what to check
You press the power button and nothing happens, or the lights and fan come on but the screen stays black. Those are two different problems, and telling them apart first saves a lot of guessing. Many "dead" laptops come back with a power drain and an hour on the charger.
Which kind of "won't turn on"?
| What you see and hear | What it usually means | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing at all: no lights, no fan, no click | No power reaching the board: charger, battery or a stuck power controller | Steps 1-3 |
| Power or keyboard light comes on, fan spins, screen black | It is running; the picture isn't reaching the screen | Step 4 |
| Lights blink in a pattern, or it beeps | A start-up self-test failed and is telling you which part | Step 5 |
| Turns on for a second, then off | Battery too flat, faulty charger, short circuit, or overheating protection | Steps 1-3, then 6 |
| Maker's logo, then a blue "Automatic Repair" screen or restarts | The hardware is fine; Windows won't start | Windows stuck restarting |
1. The charger and socket
- Most chargers have a small light on the brick or the plug end. No light: try another wall socket (not an extension lead), and check the cable between the brick and the wall is pushed in fully at both ends.
- Check the laptop's charging light next to the port. If it lights up, power is getting in.
- On a USB-C laptop, use its own charger or another of at least the same wattage, in the charging port. A phone charger often can't start a laptop with a flat battery. See laptop not charging over USB-C.
- Smell burning, see a swollen or bent case, or the brick is very hot? Stop and unplug.
2. Give a flat battery time
A battery left flat for weeks drops below the level where the laptop dares to start. Leave it on the charger for 30-60 minutes without pressing anything, then try. Some laptops refuse to start below a few percent even when plugged in, and their charging light may blink amber while they recover.
3. Power drain and battery reset (hard reset)
The small chip that watches the power button can get stuck after a crash, a bad update or a power cut. Draining the leftover charge resets it and fixes a surprising number of "dead" laptops. It deletes nothing.
- Unplug the charger and every USB device, dock, card and disc.
- If the battery comes out, remove it.
- Hold the power button for 30-60 seconds.
- Put the battery back, plug in only the charger, and press power once.
Laptops with a built-in battery often have a reset pinhole underneath (many Lenovo, Acer and some ASUS and MSI models, sometimes marked with a battery icon). With the charger unplugged, push a straightened paper clip into it for about 10 seconds, then plug in and start. Some Dell laptops have a specific drain: unplug, hold power 30 seconds, then plug in and start. Your model's manual or support page names the exact method.
4. Lights on, screen black: is it really on?
- Press Caps Lock. If its light toggles, the laptop is running.
- Press Win+Ctrl+Shift+B: Windows restarts the graphics driver and beeps. A picture coming back means a driver hiccup, not a hardware fault.
- Press the brightness up key a few times; brightness at zero looks like a dead screen. Also try the display-switch key (Win+P, then Enter once or twice).
- Shine a torch at the screen at an angle. A very faint picture means the backlight has failed: the screen works, the light behind it doesn't. That's a repair.
- Plug in a TV or monitor. A picture there points to the laptop's screen, its cable through the hinge or the lid sensor (a magnet in the lid tells the laptop it's closed; a stray magnet or faulty sensor can keep the screen off). See also HDMI no signal.
- Black screen after a memory upgrade or a knock: reseat the memory (RAM). Many laptops sit on a black screen, or blink, when memory isn't seated properly.
5. Blink codes and beeps
When the start-up self-test finds a fault before the screen is ready, the laptop reports it with a pattern of light blinks or beeps. Count them carefully; the maker's support site has the table for your model.
| Maker | How it reports faults |
|---|---|
| Dell | Battery/power light blinks amber then white in a pattern (for example 2 amber, 3 white); the pattern points to memory, screen, board or battery |
| HP | Caps Lock or Num Lock light blinks a number of times, repeating |
| Lenovo | Beeps or a blinking power light; newer models show a code you can scan with a phone |
| Others | Beeps or blinking lights; search the model number with "blink codes" or "beep codes" |
If it does reach the maker's logo, the built-in hardware test (Dell ePSA / SupportAssist with F12, HP PC Hardware Diagnostics with F2 or Esc, Lenovo Diagnostics) checks memory, storage and battery without Windows.
6. Spills, heat and knocks
- After any liquid, don't keep pressing power: see what to do after a spill.
- A laptop that shut off when hot and won't restart may be letting itself cool. Wait 15 minutes somewhere cool and try again. See laptop overheating.
- A battery that has swollen (case bulging, touchpad raised, gaps at the edges) is a safety risk. Stop using and charging it and have it replaced.
On a Mac
- Apple silicon (M1 and later): hold the power button (Touch ID) for 10 seconds, release, then press it again. Plug in the original charger for an hour first if the battery may be flat.
- Intel Macs: reset the SMC. On most recent models: shut down, hold Control + Option + Shift for 7 seconds, then add the power button and hold all four for another 7 seconds.
- A Mac that stays black after a failed update can sometimes be brought back with a "revive" from a second Mac using Apple Configurator; an Apple Store or repairer can do it.
Related
Laptop battery not charging · Laptop not charging over USB-C · Laptop screen flickering · Touchpad raised (swollen battery)
Questions
Why won't my laptop turn on even when plugged in?
Usually a fully flat battery that needs 30-60 minutes on the charger, a faulty charger or socket, or a stuck power controller. Check the charger's light, try another socket, then do a power drain: unplug everything, hold the power button 30-60 seconds, plug in and press power once.
How do I hard reset a laptop that won't turn on?
Unplug the charger and all devices, remove the battery if it comes out, hold the power button for 30-60 seconds, then plug in only the charger and start it. Laptops with a built-in battery often have a reset pinhole underneath; press it for about 10 seconds with the charger unplugged. A hard reset doesn't delete any files.
My laptop's lights come on but the screen is black. What's wrong?
The laptop is probably running but the picture isn't reaching the screen. Press Caps Lock to see if its light toggles, try Win+Ctrl+Shift+B and the brightness keys, and plug in an external monitor. If the monitor shows a picture, the laptop's screen, backlight or screen cable is faulty.
What do blinking lights on a laptop mean when it won't start?
It's an error code from the start-up self-test. The number and colour of blinks (or beeps) point to memory, the screen, the battery or the main board. Look up the pattern on the maker's support page for your model.
How do I reset a MacBook that won't turn on?
On Apple silicon Macs, hold the power button for 10 seconds, release and press again. On Intel Macs, reset the SMC by holding Control, Option and Shift for 7 seconds, then adding the power button for 7 more. Charge it for an hour first if the battery could be flat.
Published .