Dead Lenovo Laptop after Windows Updates

[jonamv8]

Hi all,

I'm more of a software guy, my hardware knowledge is limited so any feedback appreciated on the info below.....

Had a laptop - 3 years old, lost charger and left it for a year or so. Bought a new charger the other day, plugged it in, Laptop booted immediately. All working fine.

Windows having not loaded for a year or so wanted to do updates, I assumed they would be large, click yes and shut down leaving laptop plugged in. Gone to it today, NOTHING, wont even switch on, black screen, no errors, cant even hear/feel it whir in to action...

Changed fuse on charger. Tried holding power down etc.

Anything I should be trying before I bin it?!?!?!

TIA

[eeLee]

how long did you hold down the power?
does it have a reset button on the underside? You might need a paperclip for it

[MustangGT]

By shut down do you mean turning off the computer or merely closing the scree leaving it running?

When Microsoft run updates they do send a message saying 'do not turn off or power down the computer whilst the update is taking place'.

[Mr Pointy]

Try taking the battery out & see if it will reset? You might have mullered it though if you turned it off during an update.

[captain_cynic]

eeLee said:

how long did you hold down the power?
does it have a reset button on the underside? You might need a paperclip for it

Yep. Had a FW update go wrong on work's HP POS. Had to hold the button down for over 30 seconds to switch it off.

HP and Ferrari seem to have a lot in common, loads of problems with drivers.

[jonamv8]

Should have added.

I clicked start menu, clicked install updates and shut down. Left screen up and charger connected.

Have checked underside and sides, there is no reset button that you would access with a paper click.

[SteBrown91]

jonamv8 said:

Should have added.

I clicked start menu, clicked install updates and shut down. Left screen up and charger connected.

Have checked underside and sides, there is no reset button that you would access with a paper click.

No normally with laptops you hold the power down for a set period of time to reset. Removing the battery will also do it.

[xeny]

Which model please?

[jonamv8]

xeny said:

Which model please?

Lenovo Z50-75

My understanding is that even with a hardware failure I would see BIOS Boot, an error message of some sorr, blue screen of death, ram error, hard drive error etc…

If the battery was fried, my belief is that it would still power up when plugged in? Or is this false. I have tried taking battery out plugging charger in and pressing the on button to no avail.

I have changed the fuse in the charger plug too, still nothing…

[Paddymcc]

You need to disconnect the battery and charger.

Hold the power button for 30 seconds

Reconnect the charger

Press power button and it should turn on.

If this works then reconnect the battery.

It's a common thing with Lenovo laptops, been happening with them since the IBM days for god knows what reason.

[xeny]

^ looks like a reasonable plan. Looking at https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/l... it has a removable battery which makes life easier.

[jonamv8]

Thanks - Just tried removing battery and charger then holding power down for 30 secs. released power button, added battery again and charger, pressed on and nothing !

Had laptops fail on me before but never like this its dead as a dodo......!!!

[imck]

Have you tried it without the battery connected?
I would have suggested pulling the CMOS battery (this sometimes sorts non-booting laptops) but it is soldered to the system board.

If you want a decent laptop at a good price, have a look on Ebay for Lenovo Thinkpad. T450, T480, T490 depending on budget
I work with Laptops. The pro kit is so much better than consumer. Typing this on my T450
Lots of sellers that sell used corporate stock.

[GregK2]

Try 60s on the power button

[Chimune]

Thats a pretty old laptop model no?

Did it work / got used for 3 years before charger lost?

Was new charger lenovo and correct for laptop?

How long did you leave it on before hitting update?

Did you check anything like battery charge status before hitting update?

[Paddymcc]

jonamv8 said:

Thanks - Just tried removing battery and charger then holding power down for 30 secs. released power button, added battery again and charger, pressed on and nothing !

Had laptops fail on me before but never like this its dead as a dodo......!!!

The next thing to try is the same power button and battery reset but also pull the RAM and CMOS battery.

I suspect though as that's one of the budget range of lenovos it's more than likely dead. They aren't built very well.

If you do go for another like an earlier poster pointed out stick with a ThinkPad Txxx or the Lxxx series.

[jonamv8]

GregK2 said:

Try 60s on the power button

Just tried with battery disconnected and no charged for 60 secs, still nothing.

Also pulled the RAM and tried switching it on, nothing. When RAM has failed in the past I normally get a warning / error on BOOT.

Struggling to locate the CMOS battery with back panel removed, will post an image :-)

[jonamv8]

Chimune said:

Thats a pretty old laptop model no?

Did it work / got used for 3 years before charger lost?

Was new charger lenovo and correct for laptop?

How long did you leave it on before hitting update?

Did you check anything like battery charge status before hitting update?

Correct it is, worked fine and has a new SSD in it, new starter in office does very small amount of admin, would be ideal for her. It hasn't been used for circa 3 years, but upon the new Genuine Lenovo charger arriving and being plugged in it started first time and ran ok for it's age. It was on for 15 mins before deciding to update.

When hitting update, I left it plugged in to ensure it didn't power down mid update.

[Steve_H80]

Is it something silly like the fan failed and possibly cooked itself?
I wouldn't be the first time I've come across a fan, or some other component, fail on an old unused machine.

[snuffy]

Steve_H80 said:

Is it something silly like the fan failed and possibly cooked itself?
I wouldn't be the first time I've come across a fan, or some other component, fail on an old unused machine.

Sounds very possible to me.

It's been sitting there, turned off for a year, gets turned on for the first time in ages, starts updating itself, so the user toddles off then comes back sometime later and it's dead.

But that could have happened at anytime, it's just that because it was updating Windows, the OP wasn't looking at it at the time it pegged it.