Everyday IT fixes
A laptop that won't start or boot
Rule out the simple causes in five minutes so we can go straight to the real fault.
Last reviewed 20 August 2026
No lights, no fan
- 1Try a different power supply and a different wall socket.
- 2Check the charger's light — if it's off, the charger is the likely fault.
- 3Hold the power button down for 30 seconds, release, then plug in the charger and try again.
Powers on but nothing on screen
- 1Listen for fan noise and look for keyboard backlight — if they're on, it may be a display fault.
- 2Disconnect docks, monitors and USB devices, then try again with nothing attached.
- 3Try the brightness keys; some machines resume at zero brightness.
Blue screen or 'no bootable device'
Photograph the exact message, including any stop code, and raise a ticket. Don't repeatedly force-restart — it can make a recoverable disk problem worse.
If the machine holds the only copy of something important, say so on the ticket. It changes how we approach the repair.
Still stuck?
Log it with the helpdesk and a real engineer will pick it up — or book a call if you'd rather talk it through.