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Fix or replace · Laptop won't turn on

Laptop won't turn on

It's dead, or it looks dead. Before anyone quotes you a motherboard, here's what a real bench checks first.

Verdict

Can't call it without seeing it

— and anyone who does is guessing. The gap between "won't turn on" and "unfixable" is the widest in this whole business: it spans a $0 charger fault to a failed board, and the outside symptoms are identical.

What we check first, in order

  1. The charger and the wall. Dead chargers cause most "dead laptops." We test with a known-good brick before your laptop gets blamed for anything.
  2. The charging port. Loose, bent, or debris-blocked ports mimic a dead machine. Sometimes it's a clean-out, sometimes a port repair — quoted before we start.
  3. Power-on behavior without the battery. On many models a failed battery drags the whole system down. Pull the battery, run on AC: if it boots, the "dead laptop" is a $–parts battery swap, not a funeral.
  4. Signs of life. Fans spin? Lights flicker? Nothing at all? Each pattern points somewhere different — that's what the $49 diagnose maps out.

What it costs to find out

Diagnose is $49, credited toward any repair you approve. If we can't find anything wrong, the $49 doesn't happen. You approve every price before any work starts — no hourly meter, no surprise.

One honest warning: if the machine took a lightning hit, a surge, or went through a spill, say so up front. It changes what we check first, and it's the difference between a quick save and a board-level quote. We'd still rather see it than have you assume the worst.

When replacing is the honest answer

If the board is gone on a budget machine, a board-level repair can cost more than the laptop is worth used. That call gets made with the math in front of you — repair quote next to replacement cost — not with us steering you toward whichever pays the bench more. See the real math on fix vs replace for the thresholds.

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