Solved! Lenovo E550 Thinkpad fans & display not turning on, but Thinkpad light is on

[Trifex]

Hello all,

My Lenovo E550 Thinkpad up and stopped working after being powered off one day. As described in the title, when I power the laptop on I can't hear any fans and the display is completely black. However, the Thinkpad light is still solid red.

I have tried all of the solutions listed in this thread, but none work for me.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Trifex

 

[webworkings]

Try this...

1. Turn the laptop off (not sleep or hibernate but off).
2. Connect an external monitor to the laptop.
3. Turn on the external monitor.
4. Turn on the laptop.

NOTE: You may have to press an "external monitor" button. Could be the f4 button or a button with two monitors on it, for the external monitor to work.

If you can see fine on the external monitor, then your attached display, or the ribbon cable that connects it, are your problem.

If you can't see on the external monitor at all, or the problem occurs on the external monitor as well, then it is probably the graphics card/GPU that is the problem, which may require the motherboard be replaced.

You may also want to try hitting CTRL + SHIFT + WIN + B to try and reset your graphics driver as another possible fix.

 

[Trifex]

Hello! Thank you for the fast reply!

I completed all of the given steps and hit the keybind to reset graphics drivers. After connecting the monitor, the red light does not come on and the fans & display still do not power on.

I am assuming that this is a problem with the motherboard, but is there anything else I should try?

Thank you for the help!

 

[webworkings]

If it won't even show on the other monitor, then you are likely correct in it being the board. The only other things now would be to either have it looked at by a tech (and perhaps it would be something less dramatic, not saying it will, just a suggestions) or try to replace it yourself.

 

[Trifex]

Thank you very much! I appreciate your help. I will have it looked at as I don't trust myself to replace the board haha.

 

[webworkings]

Hey better to know your limits in something like this. It can be costly to 'test out' ones ability on fixing a laptop and fry the whole thing.

Good luck.