Lennovo Laptop Won’t Power On Try This

len_laptop.jpgMy wife who is an IT manager for an online gaming company here in the Bay Area ordered three laptops from Lenovo the other day. When they arrived she took the first one out of the box plugged it in and it powered up no problem. The next two would not power on no matter how she swapped the batteries or power-brick, nothing would work. So she called her sales rep to setup an RMA (return to manufacturer authorization) and he said prior to doing that she needed to call Lenovo tech support. While she was not happy about having to call for obviously defective laptops she gave it a shot.

When the tech support rep answered the phone he asked my wife what the issue was and what troubleshooting she had taken. My wife explained the process she had followed and he agreed with her assessment that the laptops were likely defective but asked that they try one more thing.

  1. First unplug the AC adapter.
  2. Next remove the battery.
  3. Then press the power button 11 times, and hold it for 30 seconds on the 11th time
  4. Finally plug the AC back in.

Wonder of wonders this worked to resolve her issue and according to the rep it was a power reset and one of the more common reasons people call for Lenovo support which is odd given that it is not documented on their site. So if you have a Lenovo laptop and you have tried everything else and it still will not power give the power reset a try. If after trying the steps above it still does not work then give Your Local Tech a call I am sure they can help you out.

– Mark Flavin

48 Comments

  1. Loren Nason on February 22, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    now THATS funny.

    I have seen and heard weird solutions but that one is over the top

  2. Robert Luna on February 22, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    LOL…great disturbing story… you know when a new computer won’t start of course pressing the button 11 times is the first thing I would think to do.

  3. David Churbuck on February 23, 2008 at 7:05 am

    It’s called “CPR” only you don’t have to blow in its mouth.

  4. JB on June 24, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    This is what I’ve been looking for! I have a customer that got support through me, and they have 40 laptops that won’t power up. There is a ‘Critical Situation’ filed with Lenovo support to figure this out. If they documented this on their site it would cause everyone so much less grief. The only reason I knew about it is because a buddy of mine went through the same thing and finally got support to tell him the secret. I have been searching for evidence online for a few hours to corroborate my hearsay…
    THANKS!!!!

  5. shrikat sharma on September 30, 2008 at 11:12 pm

    As I power on my laptop just after 5-6 minuts it got turned off.
    please give me the suggession regarding this problem.

  6. wahyu on November 17, 2008 at 1:51 am

    2 days ago i had bought it, until now i didn’t get problem! Is it good chose to buy it!

  7. Ruth Maude on January 22, 2009 at 7:08 am

    It worked! THANK YOU panic was starting to set in. Okay time for anothe full backup.

  8. Jeff in Nashville on February 8, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    I droped my Lenovo laptop and it wouldn’t come on. I tried this fix and it worked. Thanks Lenovo!

  9. Shannon on June 3, 2009 at 5:34 am

    Thank you so much for posting this! You just saved me quite a hassle…my Lenovo is owned by the public school I work at, and I’m sure IT would have taken weeks to get my notebook back to me!

  10. Joe on September 1, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    Holy Smokes ! It worked ! I had to unplug my LAN line first, but it worked !

  11. dan on October 19, 2009 at 10:50 pm

    Woow.
    you are a life saver!!

  12. JamesonF on January 18, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    Wow, this is seriously the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. But it freaking worked! Rock ON!

  13. Bryan on January 20, 2010 at 6:24 am

    Thanks so much for posting this. I thought I had a dead laptop on my hands and this got it working again. You the man.

  14. Bevie on January 20, 2010 at 6:43 am

    I was just given an older Lenovo laptop and, after connecting to the internet, it didn’t want to turn off. After it did, it didn’t want to come back on. I found this post and tried the solution. IT WORKED!.

    Thank you for posting this. What an odd solution. What’s just as odd is somebody had to figure this out.

  15. Shannon on February 3, 2010 at 8:59 pm

    Worked like a charm for my daughters laptop, Thank you!

  16. Laurie on March 25, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    Thank you so much for posting this tip. I am an online teacher – shut my laptop down last night – business as usual. Just went to turn it on and it wouldn’t power on – I was just about to melt down because I hadn’t backed up lately, which of course I preach constantly – found your tip and it worked! Thanks again!!

  17. andyb on May 29, 2010 at 3:26 am

    thanks a lot for this …worked a treat for me

  18. Hammrsgl on June 7, 2010 at 11:18 pm

    Thankyou soooo much dropped coffee on my lenovo dismantled it all worked fine had to remember that wireless switch at the front but wouldn’t wake up after I shut the lid this solution saved my bacon your blood is worth bottling

  19. Pat Graybill on July 8, 2010 at 2:50 pm

    Thank you!
    Worked for Lenovo ideapad s10e

  20. Paul Grass on July 8, 2010 at 7:28 pm

    I cannot believe that worked. I was getting desperate and tried it… And viola. Thank you.

  21. Nick on July 18, 2010 at 4:54 pm

    You are my new hero! Worked on Lenovo IdeaCentre that just suddenly went dead and would not power back on. Thanks for saving me the dreaded call to tech support. 🙂

  22. Lynn on July 23, 2010 at 5:13 am

    Thank you so very much! My computer is one month old and I couldn’t start it this morning. Found this page. It works! Thank you!

  23. expert user in Omaha, NE on August 12, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    You method worked on an old IBM T20. Battery holds no charge. Cmos battery certainly (almost?) dead as well. Thank you so much for posting this.

  24. Ben on August 13, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    Thanks a bunch – I’ve had this problem before …. It worked a treat!

  25. Kim Aldous on December 13, 2011 at 10:25 pm

    Mark THANKS! this really works i thought my laptop was broken because I’ve been using it for almost 2 years. This saved me a lot of time & money 🙂

  26. QiQi on December 26, 2011 at 8:28 am

    THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS POST! I was on the verge of tears last night because my laptop shut off and all my school work is on it. My boyfriend told me to back it up (which I didn’t). I ran out of ideas until I came across this one! It worked perfectly. I was so nervous, I forgot to even hold down the button for 30 seconds on the last one. But, it still came on. You just saved my grad school career!!

  27. Lindsay on January 8, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    This didn’t work for my computer. What am I doing wrong? ):

  28. Ryan on January 11, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    Yea, not working for my v570 but definitely appreciate the attempt

  29. mary on January 16, 2012 at 8:27 am

    I could kiss you! Thanks for the tip–it worked!

  30. Jenn on January 25, 2012 at 8:48 am

    Thank You!!!! I can’t believe this worked! I even got mixed up and thought I had to hold down the power button for 11 seconds instead of 30, but it still worked. My machine is a T61p. 🙂

  31. Sam on February 3, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    I’m looking into this issue from work for my wife who called me in panic because her laptop won’t power on! Now, I’ll look like a magician to her when I get back home and I may receive special treats tonight thanks to you. Hopefully this will work! Rock on (o:

  32. Sil on February 10, 2012 at 10:59 am

    Thank you! It really worked!

  33. tm on February 11, 2012 at 10:02 am

    Many many thanx!!!!! 🙂

  34. AG on February 20, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    Thinkpad e420 wouldn’t turn on today and unfortunately this fix didn’t work 🙁 any tips? maybe I’m doing it wrong…
    Have to call Lenovo tech

  35. Shiv on March 3, 2012 at 8:39 pm

    Yes, it worked like magic, i guess it discharges the remaining power left on the processor and when its plug back again, it starts working again. Thanks for Sharing this .. It works !!!

  36. David Perez on March 4, 2012 at 1:08 pm

    This works , thanks for posting.

  37. Mk1972 on April 14, 2012 at 12:52 am

    It worked! Thank you, my lap top is 2 months old. Scared me.

  38. LR on April 24, 2012 at 3:51 pm

    THANK YOU!
    It worked for me.

  39. Beatriz on April 28, 2012 at 4:46 am

    Thankkkkkkk youuuuuuuuu!

  40. Noelle Allen on May 1, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    this is absolutely tried and true, it works because it drains any power thats in the circuits.

  41. avi on May 29, 2012 at 9:12 am

    Unbelievable! This totally worked. I was about to smash my computer against the wall. Thanks!!!!

  42. Tomas on February 11, 2013 at 12:36 am

    Hi,

    Your advice looked suspicious to me. As my Lenovo w500 seemed to be dead, i did last try. Unbeliveable, but your method works. Thanks a lot! Tomas

  43. Jim on March 23, 2016 at 5:36 pm

    Amazingly enough this still works.

    • yourlocaltech on March 23, 2016 at 6:17 pm

      That is amazing

  44. Rolko Jando on June 5, 2016 at 4:58 am

    Ok I had to login and comment on this since this must be gayest support tip I have ever seen. Since I did a normal power cycle (not the 11x super sayan) as the first thing and nothing happened I firstly tought and in some weird way still do that this was some kind of a joke. Wthver fckit lets do it. Mrw that fckin thing boots up.
    Mfw its replicateable a dozen times.

  45. MM on August 13, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    Nope, didnt work for me

  46. bmdarwinua on August 14, 2016 at 8:57 am

    hoooly crap
    that actually worked

  47. Andrei on August 19, 2016 at 5:08 am

    Wow, thank you so much for this one, this apparently ridiculous procedure has just woke up my one year asleep laptop!

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