Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on? Fix it easily.

Last Updated on September 12, 2023 by Dave Farquhar

If your Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on, I have an easy fix. It takes less time than calling the helpdesk, and less time than going straight to desktop support too. Here’s how to fix your Thinkpad that won’t turn on all by yourself and save. Save time, at least.

Remove your Thinkpad from all power sources, including removing the battery or pressing the emergency reset on the underside, then open the lid back up and hold the power button for a few seconds. Then replace the battery, plug the laptop back in, and try the power button again.

It’s a weird trick, but hear me out. It’s very likely this is exactly what your helpdesk will ask you to do, or what your desktop support person would do after they arrive to fix the issue.

The one-minute fix for a Thinkpad that won’t turn on

First, unplug the AC adapter from the laptop and/or undock the laptop.

Next, flip over the laptop and slide the latch open to release the battery. Remove the battery and set it aside. If your Thinkpad doesn’t have a removable battery, look for an emergency reset hole next to the power plug or on the underside. Pressing a straightened paper clip into the emergency reset hole temporarily disconnects the battery. If you can’t find an emergency reset hole, this next step is worth trying anyway.

Now, here’s the key to the trick. Flip the laptop over, open the lid, and press and hold the power button for at least 15 seconds. I generally go the extra mile and hold it for more like 30. You may or may not see one or more of the LEDs flicker very briefly. That’s OK if they do. It’s also OK if they don’t.

It can be a bit fiddly to hold the paper clip in the emergency reset hole while holding the power button down, but you can usually accomplish this by setting the Thinkpad on its side.

Note: Years ago, when IBM still made Thinkpads, IBM support personnel used to tell people to briefly hit the power button 10 times before holding the power button down for at least 15 seconds. This doesn’t hurt, but I never found it necessary. I think pressing the button rapidly 10 times is a placebo.

Now replace the battery if you removed it, and make sure it snaps in firmly and the latches re-engage. Then dock the laptop or plug the AC adapter in, the way you typically would to use the laptop computer. Finally, hit the power button just like you usually do. Chances are, your laptop will fire up now. It will boot and it will be able to charge the battery as usual if needed. If the battery was fully charged, you can undock or unplug your Thinkpad and run it off battery power too.

And that’s how you fix it when your Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on. On the off chance it doesn’t work, simply try it again. It’s almost certain to work the first or second time, especially if your Thinkpad worked yesterday.

Additional troubleshooting steps when your Thinkpad won’t turn on

Aside from my weird trick involving the power button, it’s a good idea to double check your AC adapter. Make sure the power cable is plugged in firmly and fits correctly on both sides of the adapter, and that the laptop connector fits firmly as well. A small LED next to the power plug on the Thinkpad tells you that the AC power is working and the Thinkpad is receiving power.

Why this weird trick works when your Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on

Yes, this is a one weird trick blog post that actually isn’t a scam. This weird trick actually works, and I’ve been using it for decades. And I can tell you why it works.

So why does this work? There’s been a lot of speculation about this over the years but it’s pretty simple. When a computer gets hopelessly confused, you turn it off and back on. The problem is that turning a computer off doesn’t completely turn it off. Especially a modern computer like a Thinkpad.

Making things even trickier, even when you unplug it and take out the battery, residual amounts of power can remain in the computer’s capacitors for a very long time. Holding power is a capacitor’s job, so that’s expected behavior. Capacitors solve more problems than they cause, so this isn’t a design flaw. A battery that’s too flat to fully power the computer may have enough power to keep the computer in this in-between state.

Holding down the power button with no other source of power connected drains the capacitors pretty quickly. That allows the computer to fully shut down and recover. This clears whatever was confusing it, and the computer can get back to a fresh start once again.

Think of it like a heavier reboot.

I even had to use this trick on certain IBM desktop computers in the mid 1990s. It’s much more common on Thinkpads though.

What about mashing the power button 10 times?

The reason I think rapidly pushing the power button 10 times is a placebo is because of the way capacitors work. Capacitors discharge almost instantly, especially when they aren’t connected to power. So rapidly cycling the power button doesn’t make them drain any more quickly. One long press of the button will discharge them in sequence just as well as mashing on the button like a video game. It won’t hurt anything either, so you’re welcome to try it. But I think it just makes the trick harder, especially on newer models that have the emergency reset button on the underside and don’t have a user-removable battery.

What about other brands of laptops?

Thinkpads aren’t the only laptops prone to this issue (so are HP Elitebooks). This isn’t something peculiar just to IBM or Lenovo Thinkpads. If your Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on, this definitely helps when nothing else will. And if you have other brands of laptops where you work, you can try this trick on those too. It won’t hurt. And it will probably work.

One more problem that seems related but is slightly different

Sometimes your computer has trouble coming out of hibernation. It seems to be on, because it makes noise and the LEDs all light up, but only displays a black screen. Here’s how to fix the black screen after hibernation problem, without cycling power.