Why won't my tablet or mobile phone turn on? Ways to fix it
Publicado por PabloIn today's article, we tell you the main reasons why a tablet or mobile phone won't turn on, as well as possible solutions to fix it.
Without a doubt, one of the most frustrating moments with our mobile or tablet is having it charging all day and then finding it won't start when we need it.
At that moment, cold sweats begin as we see that it won't power on, but we must remain calm, as there are some things we can try to solve the issue.
These are steps we should try before taking it to a trusted technical service, as this will surely save us time and money.
This problem can occur with any type of mobile or tablet, regardless of the brand, such as Lenovo, Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Motorola, etc. They share the Android operating system, although some more general solutions can also be tried on an iPhone.
What to do to fix a tablet or mobile that won't start
In the following lines, we will go step by step through the possible problems why our tablet won't turn on and what we can do, whether it's charging or not.
Sometimes it may happen that the screen flickers, gets stuck on the logo, or the processor heats up, raising the temperature.
These points are also valid for Android mobiles.
Problems with the device charging
Possibly the simplest reason why the tablet or mobile won't turn on or charge is that we haven't charged the device.
In these cases, several things can fail, including:
- The outlet where the adapter was connected doesn't work.
- We connected the plug to the power strip but forgot to turn on the power switch.
- The tablet or mobile's USB charging cable is defective.
- The adapter has stopped working.
- The connections may be dirty, generally in the charging port.
For this reason, these points should be tested to rule out this option, as well as trying alternative charging methods, such as connecting the USB cable to our computer to see if it charges.
If you need a USB cable or adapter for your mobile or tablet, you can check our catalog.
Perform a power cycle
Once the tablet or mobile is off, it may stay in standby mode and not want to start. In older mobiles, it was possible to remove the battery and put it back to resolve this issue and perform a power cycle.
Now the solution involves holding down the power button for a few seconds to see if it can reboot and start up.
Check the mobile or tablet battery
As you may know, batteries have a certain lifespan, so after that time or charging cycles, the battery may start to fail or occasionally stop working altogether.
This can happen with older mobiles where the battery loses its properties over time.
In this case, you may need a replacement battery.
You can verify that the battery is receiving power by checking if the battery icon appears when charging or if charging LEDs light up. You can leave the tablet charging to see if it starts up.
If the indicators show no activity, the battery may not be receiving power.
Check the screen
This is another issue that may give the impression that our mobile or tablet won't start, as nothing is displayed on the screen.
It could be due to a failure in the device's LCD.
For this, we should also check the charging LEDs to confirm that the device is receiving power.
Restart the device
If the previous solutions haven't worked, you can try resetting the tablet or mobile. Remember that depending on the type of reset performed, saved data on the device may be lost.
To perform a soft reset or light reset / forced restart, hold down the power button for a few seconds; it works similarly to a power cycle.
If you want to perform a hard reset (all data stored on the device will be lost), follow these steps:
- Hold down the power button and the volume down button simultaneously for a few seconds. A menu will appear on the screen.
- Use the volume + and - keys to navigate the menu, and use the power button to select the recovery mode option.
- Select factory reset, confirm by pressing the power button, and choose the Yes option.
In this case, all stored data will be erased, and the phone will restart as it came from the factory.
After flashing or installing firmware
This issue may occur when performing a software/firmware update on the phone and the battery runs out during the process. Whenever we perform an update, it is recommended to connect the device to power, as the device usually warns when starting the update.
Installing a modified version of the software on our phone or flashing it. This may happen to users who install alternative versions to the official ones, and as a result, the tablet or mobile may not turn on.
In addition to the operating system, it may happen that some application we've installed is causing this type of problem. This can occur if we install an APK outside the official repository.
In such cases, it is recommended to perform a soft reset and uninstall the apps we installed previously.
