Following a normal boot and ~1 hr of use (Zoom meeting, full charge), my otherwise perfectly functioning device suddenly went black and would not boot again. I was on charger via dock at the time and tried booting by moving to the charger only, then switched the USB C expansion to another slot, and finally switched to a new USB C expansion with no results. The device would not boot, and the charging lights did not respond.
I let the device sit for the rest of the day and plugged it back in when I returned home. This time, the charging lights lit when the power button was pressed, but the power button did not light up. I let the device sit to charge and returned to a very hot device with the fans running on high, yet still no boot or response otherwise.
I have submitted a support ticket, but have yet to hear back. I’m honestly not sure where to start with diagnosing this considering I don’t get a response whatsoever from the device.
Additional corrective actions I’ve taken so far:
*Reseat the RAM
*Reseat the battery connection
*Observe for EMI shielding contact
*Observe for other obvious damage/causes
So far nothing has fixed this issue and there is/has been no obvious damage to account for this, so any guidance would be much appreciated.
Welcome to the community. It may not have been apparent, did you happen to notice that the battery was low or critically low? What I am imagining is something went south and stopped charging the device. The device drained itself totally of power which is typical of the symptoms you describe (a totally dead battery will not allow the device to start in some cases).
The charging lights are typically independant of the power button. Though again, if it was flat it needs a little bit for the embedded controller to wake up and take inventory of its state before it allows charging to start (i.e. the charging lights to start up) This can happen in a matter of seconds so it may appear connected to the power button.
Leaving the device to charge was correct, though something went wrong at some point which the device turned itself on and then apparently something prevented it from starting correctly but it left the system processor at full tilt and because it was hung, the fans blasting away to keep it from overheating.
This points to something going on at the board level or with the Embedded Controller (EC) firmware.
To get the embedded controller to reset itself to a startup state:
Press and HOLD the power button for a minimum of 20 seconds. Then let go.
Unplug the power from the device and wait another 10 seconds or so.
Plug the power back in and wait about 10 seconds. (Watch for charging lights or solid red, or white, or flashing, etc.) Ideally it will just start charging and stay there like a good laptop.
Press the power button once and wait a good 45 seconds to see what happens.
Sometimes the EC takes a bit to inventory itself and fire up the laptop.
If it is still “stuck” then there might be an issue with the battery and the board is not firing up because the EC puts itself into a safe mode to protect itself.
Try disconnecting the battery and then just try powering the device with USB power.
There are a number of issues that could be at play; support is the best resource to contact and have the best guidance to get you back in operation again. Hopefully it is a simple fix. Let us know how it turns out.
I have done everything as suggested and still no response from the device. After resetting the EC with your directions, I didn’t even get a charging light let alone a boot.
Now I have disconnected the battery and attempted to boot on the USB power alone and still no luck.
