Last Updated on September 9, 2018 by Dave Farquhar
I’d owned a Nook Simple Touch for less than 24 hours when I had a problem. So I learned out of necessity what to do when a Nook won’t turn on.
I found several things to try to get them working. Don’t expect the same solution to work every time. But these things are good to know.
Hold down the power button
The first and easiest thing to try is holding down the power button for 20 seconds. A variant on this is to hold the button down for 45 seconds, release it, wait a full 60 seconds, then hold the button down another 15 seconds.
Try the power button and the “n” button
Failing that, hold down the power button and the “n” button at the same time for 20 seconds.
Remove the SD card
If you have an SD card, remove it, then try powering back on. For some reason, Nook Simple Touches don’t always like to power up if there’s an SD card installed. I think they might try to boot off the card, fail, then play dead. I plugged the card back in after it booted, and it worked fine.
Charge the device
Try charging the device for 30 minutes.
And failing all that
Failing all of the above, removing the battery then putting it back in helps. But that voids the warranty, so if it’s still under warranty, take it to your nearest Barnes and Noble store and have them see what they can do with it.
This trait isn’t exactly endearing, but the NST isn’t the first device I’ve seen that has a quirk like this. (The IBM PS/2 Model 56 was.)
And while we’re talking quirks, I couldn’t get it to connect to my home wireless network at first. I mistyped my intentionally obnoxious password, then when it prompted me to re-type it, it never worked. I had to go back a step, click on my home network, click “Forget,” then select it from the list again and type the password from the beginning. Then it worked immediately.
But you didn’t come here to read that; you come here to read about what to do when a Nook won’t turn on. The next time it happens, try the same thing you did last time. If that doesn’t work, try one of the other three.
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.