My wife’s Ideapad Laptop won’t boot anymore. The device is an Ideapad Flex 5 best described by it’s model code 14ALC05.
I’ve tried to fix it for a few days already, but to no avail.
Error description:
It will power on, but screen stays black. Not even Bios-splashscreen will show.
Initially the LED indicators on the ESC-key (Fn-Lock) and CapsLock will light up. The Fn-Lock will go dark again, while Caps-Lock LED stays on. I can turn off the Caps-Lock LED by pressing Fn+SPACE, after which it won’t turn on again.
The device will stay powered on, even for hours, no change and the LED on the power button will stay lit unless the battery runs low, in which case it starts flashing. (That’s normal behavior)
Things I’ve tried (not neccessarily in that order):
- Disconnecting any peripherals
- Connecting external HDMI display
- pressing the Novo-Key
- holding the Novo-key
- Power drain by holding power button for more than a minute
- disconnecting the internal battery + power drain
- disconnecting the SSD
I have suspected a corrupted BIOS and tried flashing an updated BIOS by following this guide: https://wucke13.de/posts/lenovo-bios-fun/
However, the error description doesn’t seem to match exactly with my problem, so I’m not sure if I even have the right diagnosis. I’ve found other pages that suggest and describe re-flashing the BIOS with an SPI-programmer. But I don’t own something like that and have no prior experience, so I only want to try that as a last resort.
If anyone has got any additional ideas, what I could try or even can help me confirm that I’m on the right track, pls let me know!
When you put “no post” in the title I thought it was a post with only the title but no body text.
Have you tried removing or replacing the RAM?
Sorry for the confusion. Afaik “no post” is what people call this behavior I’m describing, where it doesn’t even get to a bootloader or something.
I haven’t tried removing the RAM, since in this model the RAM is soldered to the mainboard, and I lack the equipment and skill to mess with that.
Does the screen always stay black? Nothing at all? Can you check if the screen is broken? Faulty cabling?
I sometimes get a glimpse of the screen packlight turning on, when I keep the power button pressed for extended time. But nothing actually gets displayed on it.
I think the fact, that an external monitor doesn’t get any signal at all either rules out, that it’s limited to a broken screen, does it?
That kind of depends on the laptop. Mine might not show anything on an external monitor at the login screen if the lid is not closed.
Ah yes, true. You just made me remember the time I had to blindly navigate another laptops BIOS to turn Switchable Graphics, because it’s screen was broken and it wouldn’t display anything externally, with that setting switched off.
If I do remember correctly, the current patient didn’t have that issue before it broke.
But no, I guess I can’t totally rule out a broken display. If I power the device on, the screen actually gets darker though. That seems to indicate, that it still receives power at least.
What more can I do to rule out a broken screen, when I don’t have any replacement parts ready?
Another screen check, did you try shining a very bright light on the screen? If you shine a flashlight on it and can see stuff, it might be the backlight
Thank you for your suggestion. I will give that a try.
Another thing you can do, is first turn it “on” (the power LED should be on and fans spinning). Then press and hold the power button.
If it turns off immediately, you have not POSTed and it’s probably a board/BIOS issue. If it takes a couple seconds to turn off, then you’re probably in Windows and it’s more likely a screen problem
