[BenEboY]

Hello everyone. I haven’t been on here in sometime but I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction here.
My buddies daughter brought me her chromebook tonight because she said it wouldn’t power on. I have never owned a chromebook so I’m a little lost on this one but she needs it for school. Below II’s what I do know and what I have tried. Thanks in advance.

It is a chromebook by HP model 11 g6 ee. She initially brought it over with a usb cell phone charger that she said she has used for this computer many times. When plugged in, the status indicator light would light up a deep orange color or maybe even red. Can’t really tell. She said she charged the device for 24 hours prior to bringing it to me.

pressing the power button has no effect. Pressing power and refresh at the same time changes the status indicator light to white briefly and then back to orange but the computer will still not start up.

I unplugged the battery and held the power button for a minute or so and then plugged the battery back in and the charger and tried again. Still nothing.

Then I unplugged the battery and charger and held the power button for about a minute or so again. This time I plugged in power from the wall but left the battery disconnected. Now the indicator light flashes white. It will still not power on.

I left it plugged in for over half an hour and tried once again to power up but again to no avail.

So I had her bring me her brothers charger. He uses the exact same chromebook model for school and his charger definitely works. I began all the above steps again but with little change.
The only noticible difference I see is that when I let the unit charge and press the power button, the orange indicator goes away and will not return unless I hold the power button down for 10 seconds or so with the laptop unplugged from the wall. Then, when I plug it back in, the orange light is back but the stupid thing still doesn’t turn on. Any ideas???

 

[Stancestans]

Take it to a computer repair shop.

 

[SpywareDr]

Before you do that, have you tried all of HP's troubleshooting steps here?

HP Customer Support - Knowledge Base > HP Chromebook PCs - Chromebook Is Not Charging or Does Not Turn On​

 

[BenEboY]

Hey guys, thanks for responding. Just wanted to give an update in case anyone else runs into this problem.

So in answer to SpywareDr, yes I had in fact tried all of HPs trouble shooting steps with zero positive results. After trying the last step (letting it charge for 24 hours with the correct power supply and after confirming the power supply and outlet were functioning properly) the only significant change was that the reddish/orange LED indicator changed to a white color.

I performed additional Google searches including these findings and was able to locate a forum from a school tech guy who had run into this problem multiple times. On the forum, he stated that the problem was in fact a faulty graphics card but since it is obviously an integrated card, the mother board would need to be replaced. He also said that HP is aware of this defect and even issued a recall, but their fix was simply to replace the board with the same exact one and so the problem is just repeating. I only add this because some readers looking for answers may have bought and paid for this chromebook out of pocket. In my case, the school provided the laptop so I don’t particularly care whether the problem keeps popping up or not so long as she doesn’t get charged for it.

She took the computer in to school and they were able to confirm that it needed a new board. She was not charged and all is right in the world again lol though she is full of drama because they gave her a used chromebook that was pretty dirty I guess and had pet hair and stuff down in the keyboard lol. Other than that tho, she is up and running again and I’m only out a little bit of my time. There was no charge to my buddy’s daughter or my buddy.

Thanks again for your input! I really love this forum!

 

[dverner456]

Hey guys, thanks for responding. Just wanted to give an update in case anyone else runs into this problem.

So in answer to SpywareDr, yes I had in fact tried all of HPs trouble shooting steps with zero positive results. After trying the last step (letting it charge for 24 hours with the correct power supply and after confirming the power supply and outlet were functioning properly) the only significant change was that the reddish/orange LED indicator changed to a white color.

I performed additional Google searches including these findings and was able to locate a forum from a school tech guy who had run into this problem multiple times. On the forum, he stated that the problem was in fact a faulty graphics card but since it is obviously an integrated card, the mother board would need to be replaced. He also said that HP is aware of this defect and even issued a recall, but their fix was simply to replace the board with the same exact one and so the problem is just repeating. I only add this because some readers looking for answers may have bought and paid for this chromebook out of pocket. In my case, the school provided the laptop so I don’t particularly care whether the problem keeps popping up or not so long as she doesn’t get charged for it.

She took the computer in to school and they were able to confirm that it needed a new board. She was not charged and all is right in the world again lol though she is full of drama because they gave her a used chromebook that was pretty dirty I guess and had pet hair and stuff down in the keyboard lol. Other than that tho, she is up and running again and I’m only out a little bit of my time. There was no charge to my buddy’s daughter or my buddy.

Thanks again for your input! I really love this forum!

Thank you so much for this. I literally just signed up to this site to tell you that! I've had nothing but problems with these CB's and with the pandemic and i work at a school the problem just got bigger. not only that issue with these CBs also the keyboard ribbon cables are too long so HP wisdom said lets fold it so it fits!🤦‍♂️ I really like our Samsung ones but we can never find them in bulk. so thank you again for this!

 

[AnneGast]

I found a solution on a reddit thread that I decided to try since my unit was out of warranty. Here is the reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin/comments/b3u4px and scroll down to TechGuyDRoss where they talk about opening up the unit, disconnecting the battery from the motherboard, plugging the unit into power and it will turn on. I had to forget and reattach my wifi choice (you may not have to) and then I was able to login and browse the web. I shut it down, unplugged from power, reattached the battery to the motherboard, plugged it back into power and now the battery charging light was illuminated. The unit turned on fine and I was able to login and browse. I'm letting it sit now for the next few hours plugged in, but so far the status light says it is charging the battery.

 

[SpywareDr]

1) What does the have to do with the OP's problem?

2) The OP has already found a solution, see post #4

 

[AnneGast]

1) What does the have to do with the OP's problem?

2) The OP has already found a solution, see post #4

I was giving people another option for fixing the same issue if their unit is no longer under warranty and it won't cost them any money. I'm aware the OP's problem is fixed as I read the entire thread.

 

[SpywareDr]

She took the computer in to school and they were able to confirm that it needed a new board. She was not charged and all is right in the world again