10 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Laptop won't turn on? Five checks before you pay for a repair
A dead laptop is often not dead at all. Here are the five things worth checking at home before you pay anyone, and the signs that it really does need a repair.
A laptop that shows nothing when you press the power button is one of the most common calls we get across Cranbourne, Frankston and the south-east. About a third of the time it turns out not to be a fault at all. These checks take ten minutes and cost nothing.
1. Is it actually getting power?
Most chargers have a light on the brick or on the plug that goes into the laptop. If there's no light, try a different power point, then check the cable where it bends at both ends — that's where they break. If you have a USB-C laptop, a phone charger won't do: it can't supply enough power to start most laptops.
2. Leave it on the charger for 30 minutes
A battery that has run completely flat can need a while on charge before the laptop will even try to start. Plug it in, leave it alone for half an hour, then try again.
3. Do a hard reset
- Unplug the charger and anything plugged into the USB ports
- Hold the power button down for 30 seconds
- Plug the charger back in (leave everything else out) and press power normally
This clears a stuck power state, and it fixes more "dead" laptops than anything else on this list.
4. Is it on, but the screen is black?
Look for lights on the keyboard, listen for the fan, and press Caps Lock to see if its light comes on. If there are signs of life, the laptop may be running with a dead screen or backlight. Plug it into a TV or monitor with an HDMI cable: if a picture appears there, the problem is the screen, not the whole laptop.
5. Did anything happen to it?
Think back over the last few days: a drink spilled near it, a drop, a lightning storm, a Windows update that didn't finish. That doesn't fix anything, but it tells a technician where to look first, which saves you time and money.
When it really does need a repair
If none of that works, the usual culprits are a failed charging port or charger, a battery that won't hold any charge, a dead screen or backlight, or a fault on the board itself. All but the last are usually straightforward. Typical prices:
- Charger or charging port
- Usually $120–$250
- Battery replacement
- $120–$250 depending on the model
- Screen replacement
- $150–$320
- Diagnosis
- Free, with a fixed price before any work starts
Your files are almost always safe through all of this, even if the laptop is dead. If the laptop can't be saved, the drive can usually be taken out and your photos and documents copied off. See laptop repairs for more, or data recovery if it's the files you're worried about.