Numerous Chromebooks Won't Charge or Power-On At All

Question

Hello,

A school I service has an uptick on Chromebooks that have died and appear unrecoverable.

1.)Most are Dell 3100's (a few are Acers, unsure what model(s) off the top of my head)

2.)Some have Daughterboards (two USB-C ports), some do not (only one USB-C port).

3.)Hard reset doesn't appear to do anything

4.) When any charger is plugged in, there are no lights, regardless of whether the battery is still connected or disconnected.

5.) Replacing the battery doesn't resolve

6.)There was one Chromebook out of the bunch that it seemed like the Daughter-board was causing a circuit issue. When I disconnected it from the Motherboard, the Motherboard began showing charging activity when plugged in...however, I could not replicate this on any other failed Chromebook that had a Daughterboard.

Does anyone have any A.) Additional solutions I can try to recover these and/or B.) An explanation or Root-Cause(s) they might know of?

Could it be the chargers they're using in the chromebook carts?

*Some (not all) seemed to start displaying these symptoms of being unrecoverable shortly after they returned back from a two-week break.*

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

ejn63 · Answer

Whatever is wrong, will likely not be repairable at anything resembling an economically acceptable cost. These are about 7 years old at this point and have about a year left before they go end of life. They're also all over EBay for under $50 complete and working.

anne_droid · Answer

Hi

I hope this is not a waste of your time.........

For clamshells (Refresh key present):

With the charger plugged in, press and hold Refresh (F3) + Power for 10 seconds.
Release both keys, then press just Power once and wait 10–15 seconds.
If no response, repeat but hold Refresh + Power for 30 seconds on the second attempt.

For convertibles/tablets (no dedicated F3):

Use Volume Up + Power instead of Refresh + Power; hold for 10 seconds, then release and press Power once.

If it powers, boot it fully into ChromeOS and verify battery % and that it now cold‑boots from battery.

##################

Google’s and OEMs’ guidance for long‑term storage is slightly different from “just shut down and shelve it”.

Before storing 2+ weeks:
- Charge to around 80%, then put the device into long‑term storage (battery‑disconnect) using Refresh + Power while plugged in, then unplug while holding.
- Confirm it won’t start on battery (Power does nothing), then store in a cool, dry place.
To bring them back:
- Just plug in AC; this clears storage mode and lets you boot normally.

Quint717 · Answer

@anne_droid​ Thank you for your response. I attempted these steps on several with no luck. On about half of the stack though, I did discover that the daughterboard was causing a circuit issue or something with the motherboard, preventing anything from charging. When I disconnected the daughterboard, I was able to charge and power on by connecting via the MB. The other half of the stack this did not work either though. And some of the models don't even have a daughterboard, so not sure what else to do with those besides deprovision.

Quint717 · Answer

@ejn63​ Thank you for your response. I agree, it would prob be most feasible to retire them and replace with a different/newer model. But of course, I have no power in that decision and funding might be an issue (I'm a contractor so not sure). On about half of the stack, I did discover that the daughterboard was causing a circuit issue or something with the motherboard, preventing anything from charging. When I disconnected the daughterboard, I was able to charge and power on by connecting via the MB. The other half of the stack this did not work either though. And some of the models don't even have a daughterboard.

anne_droid · Answer

Hi I have an old .odt and a .doc, which I am trying attaching the .DOC (hopefully.)

Chromebook

Numerous Chromebooks Won't Charge or Power-On At All

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