Last Updated on April 8, 2017 by Dave Farquhar
If your Lenovo Ideapad 100 won’t turn on, you’re in good company. I have a friend who has that problem with his Ideapad 100 laptop a lot. Incredibly, nobody I know of documented this fix before. Here’s the secret.
My favorite trick doesn’t work since you can’t pull the battery. Just holding the power button for 15 or 30 seconds didn’t work either. I’ve seen other crazy fixes like holding the computer at a 45 degree angle. Forget all that.
The key is something called the Novo Button. It’s in different places in different models. On my friend’s Ideapad 100-15IBD, it’s a recessed button next to the power plug. When I pushed that button with a paper clip, the laptop roared to life and brought up a boot menu.
Don’t pick system recovery unless you have a really good reason to do it. Pick the first option, which is normal startup. Your computer will boot normally. Or, in this computer’s case, it booted and then immediately crashed, but the second boot worked normally.
Why not pick system recovery? The problem isn’t Windows. It’s a hardware problem. Just doing a normal boot will restore it to working order. There’s no need to wipe out your data in most cases.
How do you prevent this in the first place? As best I can tell, these Lenovo Ideapads don’t like it when their batteries run down. Plug it in after a long day’s work and don’t let it sit unattended and unplugged for a long time and it’s less likely to give you finicky powerups. But if it ever does, you can fix it with a paper clip, and knowledge of where your model’s Novo Button is.
It’s certainly more convenient than pulling the battery, but maddening when you don’t know the trick. It’s still a bit of a hassle so if I owned one, I’d keep it plugged in quite a bit.
That said, if it does happen, use the Novo Button to save yourself an unnecessary and potentially costly trip to the repair shop. I have no idea why Lenovo didn’t document this fix anywhere but I’m glad to share my discovery.
Why are Lenovo computers prone to this? Truth is, they aren’t the only ones. HP computers are. Dells don’t seem to be, but they have their own quirks. It’s all about what you’re used to.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
Have a new Lenovo 110 fixed battery and tried Novo by putting in a paperclip still not starting up ! Had it charging overnight
In that case, try holding the power button for an extended time (at least 30 seconds). If that doesn’t work, taking it back to the place you bought it to have them look at it may be your best bet unfortunately.
it works, patience is a virtue, the 30 secs really worked, thanx for this
30 sec holding power key work thanks a lot for advise.
Thank you, I’m glad it worked for you!
Yes! The Silicon Underground to the Rescue! Novo Button fixed it! FYI, a bit surprised how far I had to push paper clip in. Just mentioning in case others trying the same, think it didn’t work.
Thank You!
My lenovo just showing the lenovo logo. Then afterwards it will turn into a blank black screen. What to do? Then it goes back having the lenovo logo again in a black back ground.
It opened but stocked in the lenovo logo with black background.
It sounds like you’ll need a tech to look at it. The internal SSD is failing to boot, but you’ll need someone to figure out whether it’s a hardware problem or just some missing files. Sorry.
wow, i did the Novo Button and it worked. the challenge was locating the button.
OMG! IT WORKED!
I have a lenova IdeaPad 100s and can’t find where to use paper clip any idea.
Left side of the machine, right in front of where the power cord plugs in.
Please I have a lenova IdeaPad 100-15IBY and can’t find where to use paper clip any idea.
Lenovo’s support page telling how to find the Novo button on specific models is here: https://support.lenovo.com/ec/en/solutions/ht062552
I don’t know how that specific model differs from the model I worked on but the Novo button is usually next to the power switch.