Check the charger first, then whether the laptop is running behind a dark screen, then do a hard reset, and if none of that works, leave it on charge for an hour. That order starts with the cheapest thing to rule out. None of it needs a screwdriver, and none of it puts your files at risk.
We can’t tell from here which check will bring yours back. For some laptops none of them will, and if that’s where you end up, a laptop that won’t start is still worth something to us. That part comes at the end.
Four checks, in this order
- Rule out the charger. Plug it in and look for a charging light, either on the laptop beside the power socket or on the charger itself. If there’s no light, move to a different wall socket (skip the extension lead), and look along the cable for a kink, a split or a plug that’s worked loose where it meets the brick. If you’ve got another charger with the same connector and at least the same wattage printed on its label, try that one as well.
- Check whether it’s the screen. Press the power button and listen for a fan spinning up, then press Caps Lock and watch whether its light comes on, because either one means the laptop has started and the fault sits somewhere between the laptop and its own screen. Plug it into a TV or monitor with an HDMI cable. If nothing shows, press the Windows key and P together, which switches where Windows sends the picture. A desktop on the TV means the laptop works and the display doesn’t, and that’s a separate problem: our guide to a cracked laptop screen covers whether a screen is worth repairing.
- Do a hard reset. Unplug the charger. If the battery clips out from underneath without tools, take it out. Hold the power button down for 15 to 30 seconds, then put the battery back, plug the charger in and press the power button once, normally. This drains the leftover charge that leaves a laptop’s power circuit stuck, and HP and Dell both publish it as a standard step. Some Lenovo ThinkPads have an emergency reset pinhole on the underside instead; with the charger out, press a straightened paper clip into it, then reconnect and try again. Lenovo’s user guide for your model shows where the hole is.
- Leave it on charge for an hour. A battery that’s run flat far enough won’t show a charging light straight away. Plug it in, leave it alone for a full hour, then press the power button. If the laptop’s been in a drawer since last winter, this is the check to be patient with.
Brand checks worth knowing
When an HP laptop won’t turn on
HP laptops flash the Caps Lock or Num Lock light in a pattern of long and short blinks when something fails during start-up. Count them, then search HP’s support site for “blink codes” with your model number, and the pattern tells you which part it’s pointing at: memory, the processor or the BIOS.
If the Caps Lock light comes on and the screen stays black, HP also publishes a BIOS recovery you run from the keyboard. With the charger plugged in and the laptop off, hold the Windows key and B together, press the power button for about a second, then keep holding Windows and B until the screen lights up or you hear beeps. It rewrites the start-up software only. Your files aren’t touched.
When a Dell laptop won’t turn on
Dell calls the hard reset a power drain, and it’s the first thing their support pages ask for. After that, watch the battery light beside the charging port. On Dell laptops it blinks amber and white in a pattern when the start-up checks fail, and Dell’s support site lists what each pattern means for your model.
Dell also builds in a screen test. With the laptop off, hold the D key and press the power button. If the screen fills with solid colours, one after another, the display is fine and the fault is somewhere else. If the power light comes on and no colours appear, that points at the screen or the cable that feeds it.
If it still won’t start, it’s still worth something
At that point it’s a repair or a sale. We buy laptops that won’t turn on at all, graded Faulty, and the price follows the processor, the brand and the screen size, exactly as it does for a working one.
An HP with a 10th-generation Core i5 that won’t start is worth £30 to us today, and an 11th-generation one £34.50. For a Dell we pay £30 for the 10th generation and £34.50 for the 11th. Those figures are for a 15-inch screen or bigger. Smaller screens pay less.
At the bottom of the range we’d rather be straight with you. A Celeron, a Pentium or any of the first five generations of Intel Core is worth next to nothing to us, whether it starts or not, and for those the honest answer is to recycle an old laptop properly.
Finding the processor when Windows won’t open
Look for the Intel or AMD sticker on the palm rest beside the touchpad. It names the processor family (Core i5, Ryzen 5), and on some laptops the generation as well. If the sticker’s worn off, or it doesn’t say which generation, turn the laptop over: the label underneath carries a model number, and that’s enough for us to look up the rest. Or ring us on 01440 784570, or email info@sellyourlaptop.co.uk, with the model number to hand and we’ll look it up for you.
Your files are still on the drive, even with the laptop dead. We wipe every laptop that reaches us before anything is reused or recycled, including the ones that never turn on again, and you can read how we wipe every laptop before you send it.
For any brand, our page on how to sell a broken laptop walks through the Faulty route. If it’s an HP, start a quote for your HP laptop, choose Faulty, and give us what you found on the sticker or the label.
