It won't turn on, but your files are very likely still there.
Whether it went dark after a spring storm in Tyler or just refused to start one morning in Wichita Falls, a computer that won't come on feels final. It seldom is. Five causes account for nearly all of them, and the photos and documents are almost always sitting safely on the drive.
It's $39 to book a visit at your house, and that $39 comes off the visit's price. A remote session runs 30 minutes for $39. Cards only, and the rate is settled with you before any work begins.
Have a Local Nerd call you.
Describe what happens when you press the power button, and a Local Nerd will call you back to say if it sounds worth fixing. There's no charge for the call.
Rather pick a time yourself? Book a visit online
Five things that keep a computer from starting
A worn-out charger. Laptop chargers give out more often than laptops do. The cord cracks at the bend next to the plug, or the brick itself dies, and the battery quietly drains behind it. No charging light? Begin there.
A battery at the end of its life. On an older laptop, a battery that's fully worn can keep it from starting even on the charger, or let it start and then shut down again after a minute.
An update that didn't finish. You'll see a cursor on a black screen, a spinning circle that never stops, or the logo sitting there for an hour. The computer is running; it just can't get through startup.
A drive on its way out. Clicking noises, a 'no boot device' message, or a computer that starts some days and not others. This one deserves care, because your files are on that drive.
Something unplugged. After a move or a desk rearrangement, the power cord is partway out, the power strip is off, or the monitor is set to the wrong input.
Things that make it worse
Forcing it off again and again during an update. A single forced restart is fine. Repeating it on a machine halfway through an update is how a stuck update turns into a computer that won't come on at all.
Taking the case apart. Laptops are glued and clipped together around ribbon cables that tear easily, and a desktop's power supply can stay charged even once it's unplugged. None of the five causes above needs the case opened.
Starting a clicking drive again. Each try wears a failing drive down more. Keep it switched off until the files are copied somewhere safe.
Throwing it away. Even a computer beyond repair still holds your photos, documents and saved passwords. Get the files off it and have the drive wiped before it leaves the house.
How a visit goes
On the free call, tell us what you're seeing, and we'll say whether it sounds worth fixing before anyone comes to the house. A worn charger, a stuck update and a dying drive each have their own fix.
Your Local Nerd sits down at your kitchen table, so the computer never gets boxed up and left on some shelf for a week.
Files first. If the machine powers on at all, they're copied to something safe before any fix is attempted. A drive that has to be taken out of the case to read is a job for a repair shop, and we'll tell you that.
If a new computer is the answer, we'll tell you, then move your files and accounts over and get the new one working the way the old one did.
Worth a try on your own
Give these about ten minutes. Now and then one of them clears it up completely, and you won't need a visit at all.
- Look and listen before anything else. Is there a fan running, a charging light, a lit keyboard, a beep? Some sign of life with a dark screen is a different problem from nothing at all, and we'll ask about it first on the phone.
- Plug it straight into a different wall outlet and skip the power strip. A strip switched off by a stray foot is far more common than a dead computer.
- Unplug everything except power: the second monitor, the printer, USB drives, phone cables. One faulty accessory can keep the whole thing from starting.
- Press and hold the power button for a full 15 seconds, release it, wait a few seconds, and press it once. That clears a machine stuck halfway off, and it works more often than you'd think.
- If it's a laptop, give it 30 minutes on the charger before calling it dead. A battery that ran all the way down needs time before it holds enough charge to start.
What a Local Nerd won't take on
Hardware repair, meaning anything that calls for new parts or a soldering iron. It's better you hear that before you book.
- We don't replace anything inside the case, whether that's a screen, battery, charging port, drive or motherboard. When it needs one of those, we'll say so and send you to a shop that does hardware repair.
- Getting files off a drive that has physically failed is clean-room work for a specialist lab, not us. Each attempt to power up a clicking drive makes their work harder.
What you pay
A visit at your house takes $39 to book, and that $39 is subtracted from what the visit costs. The hourly rate depends on how far your address sits, in a straight line, from downtown of the city it falls under: $110 an hour inside 25 miles, $130 an hour from 25 to 50 miles, and $145 an hour from 50 to 75 miles. Nothing is added on top for travel.
A remote session begins with us calling you at the time you chose, and it is $39 for 30 minutes. For help a few times a year, there is Nerd on Call: $14.99 a month, with two remote sessions and one in-person visit included every year.
Payment is by card. Local Nerds can't take cash or checks, so nobody will ask you for either at the door. The FAQ has the rest of the detail.
Want to talk it over first? A Local Nerd will call you at no charge, and you aren't signing up for anything.
Where Local Nerds come to you
A visit can reach as far as 75 miles from downtown of each Texas city with a page below, and every one of those pages lists the towns it reaches. To see what your own address gets, put it in the ZIP checker. Remote sessions don't depend on where you live.
- Amarillo
- Austin
- Beaumont
- College Station
- Conroe
- Corpus Christi
- Dallas
- Denton
- El Paso
- Fort Worth
- Frisco
- Houston
- Katy
- Killeen
- Laredo
- Longview
- Lubbock
- McAllen
- Midland
- San Antonio
- Tyler
- Waco
- Wichita Falls
Questions we hear a lot
What usually stops a computer from turning on?
Power, most of the time: a charger that quit, a battery drained to nothing, a power strip someone switched off, or a cord partly pulled out. Next most common are a stuck update and a dying drive, which only look dead. A light or the sound of a fan tells you which of those two groups you're in.
All I get is a cursor on a black screen. What does that mean?
The computer is running, but the system never finished loading. It's usually an update that got interrupted and sometimes a failing drive. Wait half an hour, then do one forced restart. If the same screen comes back, stop restarting it and get it looked at.
My laptop shuts off unless it's on the charger, and sometimes even then. Why?
Most often the battery has worn out or the charger is too weak, so the laptop quits the moment it has to draw on the battery. The charger gets checked first. A worn battery is a job for a hardware repair shop, and we'll tell you if that's it.
What should I try when a MacBook won't power on or charge?
Look at the charger at both ends, try another outlet, and give it half an hour plugged in. Then press and hold the power button for ten seconds, release, and press once. Most newer MacBooks have their storage built onto the main board, so the files are safe elsewhere only if iCloud or Time Machine was backing them up.
If it won't turn on, are my files lost?
Very rarely. Your files are stored on the drive, and the part that failed is usually a different one. When the computer powers on at all, copying the files is part of the visit; when the drive must be removed from the case, a repair shop does that step. Two exceptions: a drive that has physically failed, which is specialist lab work, and newer MacBooks whose storage is built into the board.
Should I fix it or replace it?
Fixing a bad charger or a stuck update makes sense on nearly any computer. Replacing a failed board in a seven-year-old laptop usually doesn't. The free call tells you whether a visit is worthwhile, and your Local Nerd tells you again at the table before doing anything.
Do I need to take it to a repair shop?
No. Your Local Nerd comes to you and sits down at the kitchen table, and the files never leave home. There's no fixing a computer that won't start over a remote session, so this is in-person work.
What does it cost when a computer won't start?
It's billed by the hour, and the hourly rate goes by how many miles your address is, in a straight line, from downtown of the city it falls under. The three rates are listed under What you pay. Plan on about an hour, or longer if there are lots of files to rescue.