Solved! Lenovo 700 15-ISK issue (doesn't boot)

[hfs1000]

Hello, hoping someone can help me with this.

I've had this laptop for about 2,5 years. Got it from here https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Ideapad-700-15ISK-i5-6300HQ-2-3GHz/dp/B01FJFN872/

So around 4 or 5 months ago I've started experiencing this issue where I'd press the power button, everything would start up, lit up, fans start spinning etc., but the screen remained black. I would then power off the machine by holding the power button for a couple seconds, and try again. It would boot up normally after the third or fourth attempt. With time, the number of attempts it takes to get it to boot up has been rising in geometrical progression. I knew this was bad and, as expected, eventually it stopped booting altogether, no matter how many times I'd try.

The technicians were of no help, citing lack of technical documentation online for this specific model. Lenovo online support was even less helpful. They didn't even know what's a POST code and just gave me a link to the laptop's user manual PDF. I was trying to find out if I could connect a mini PCI-E POST card to this laptop (in Wi-Fi's slot) to see if it shows anything (googling suggests it will most likely just always return POST code zero, and I don't want to buy a mini PCI-E POST card without being sure it's gonna be of any use).

To sum it up, here's how it goes. I power it on, fans start spinning, the lights turn on, but nothing pops up on the screen. It's just black. If left untouched, around five minutes later it will do one long beep. Now, the laptop's own screen will remain black regardless, but if at this point there's an external monitor connected via HDMI, it will show this message:

Error 0101003: Keyboard not detected

After that, it will proceed to boot into Windows, but in fact it gets stuck in an infinite loop. It will just display the Lenovo logo, a spinner below it and the words "Attempting automatic repairs". That's it.

Needless to say, the keyboard doesn't work. Not even an external one connected via USB.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[webworkings]

Sounds like you have at least two problems there. The keyboard and the display.

If it shows on an external monitor, and they are both running on the same graphics, then the attached display either has a loose cable, damaged, cable or damaged display. If they are instead running on different ones. Say the attached display is using the GPU and the external is using the integrated graphics, then the GPU could still be the problem and need replacing.

As to the keyboard, I would suggest you try attaching an external one, while the laptop is off, and see if you still get the error. If you don't, then the attached keyboard is likely the problem. If you still get it, then try disconnecting the attached one and try the external again. Should it still be a problem, then you are probably going to have to have the motherboard replaced.

 

[hfs1000]

Thank you, I'll try. However, I still don't see how that could explain why Windows is getting stuck when trying to boot. I mean, back when I was still able to get the laptop to boot up at least from the 10th attempt, Windows wouldn't get stuck trying to repair itself.

 

[webworkings]

Computers are like people, sometimes they don't make sense.

I am hoping that the things to try I mentioned will resolve the issue. However, if not, then you are likely looking at a motherboard issue. Which isn't something you want. And possibly a hard drive issue. So lets hope for the lesser issues.