Chromebook Won’t Boot – What To Do

Chromebook laptops and tablets are generally known to be very reliable. However, even Chromebooks might refuse to boot up from time to time. Many things can cause this problem, both on the hardware and software sides.

Read on for the most common solutions for when Chromebook refuses to start up.

Plug the Charger in

The simplest explanation for booting problems is that the battery is empty. To check whether that’s the case, plug in your charger and see what happens.

If the device powers on, it means that the problem was definitely the batter. On the other hand, if it doesn’t boot immediately, wait a while and let it fully charge. If you still can’t start up your Chromebook after that, move on to the next solution.

While you’re there, inspect the charger, cable, and the charging port for physical damage. Also, inspect the port for dust and debris.

Check the Battery

If charging the battery didn’t work, you might also want to check whether the battery is in good condition. If it won’t void the warranty on your device, open it up and inspect the battery. Look for signs of physical damage. Also, check whether the battery is swollen or if it heats up too fast when plugged in.

If the Chromebook still refuses to boot, you might want to power-cycle your device – but you should only do it if you’re comfortable with opening the device and disconnecting the battery. If you feel up to it, follow these steps.

1. Pull the power cord from your Chromebook.
2. Also, take out the battery. Keep in mind that many Chromebook models don’t allow this.
3. Press the Power button, and hold it for 60 seconds.
4. Put the battery back in and connect it.
5. Close the Chromebook.
6. Plug your charger in.
7. Try and turn the device on again.

Hard Reset

If your Chromebook does boot up on its own from time to time, you might want to perform a hard reset when it turns on. This should solve the sporadic bootup problems in most cases. Here’s how to hard reset a Chromebook device.

1. Turn off the device completely.
2. Press together and hold the Power and Refresh buttons on the keyboard. Hold the Refresh button until the Chromebook boots up.
3. When it does boot up, release the Refresh button.

If you have a tablet Chromebook, here’s how to perform a hard reset.

1. Press the Power and Volume up buttons. Hold them for no less than 10 seconds.
2. Release the buttons when the tablet starts rebooting.

In case you have a laptop that’s listed in the “Other ways” section of this page, you should follow the specific instructions for your model.

Remove USB Devices

It might seem odd, but the boot issues might be caused by connected USB devices. It is a long shot and the connected devices are seldom to blame for boot up issues. However, it’s worth checking. Unplug all connected devices and try to boot up your Chromebook once more.

If this method doesn’t help identify the culprit, you should move on to software-related solutions.

Remove Web Extensions

If your Chromebook is having troubles with booting up from time to time, browser extensions might be the cause. Some extensions don’t receive due updates from the developer and might come at odds with your fully updated Chrome OS. In turn, this might cause startup problems.

To rule this one out, you should remove all the extensions one by one. Start with the oldest one or the one that went longest without an update, but don’t leave out the new and fully updated extensions.

Change Your Account

In case you have intermittent problems with booting your Chromebook, you might want to change the account you’re using. When Chromebook starts up, instead of signing in with your standard account, log in as another user and try to reboot the device.

If you’re successful, it might mean that some of the apps on your original account got corrupted or were poorly integrated. Also, there could be issues with the Google account integration. If this method fails, you should try signing in as a guest. Here’s how to do it.

1. Log out of your main account.
2. Click on the Guest icon at the bottom of the screen.
3. Try and reboot the device.

If you’re successful, it probably means that there are issues with Google account synchronization and integration.

Powerwash

If all else fails, you can try to powerwash your Chromebook. Powerwash is Google’s term for the factory reset.

First, make sure to back up important data to an external hard drive or save it to your Google Drive. Do it because powerwash will delete all your settings, files, and apps. Also, synchronize your account settings. After you’ve made all the necessary preparations, let’s see how to reset your Chromebook to its factory settings.

1. Sign out of your Chromebook.
2. Click on the time at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
3. Select Settings in the pop-up menu that appears.
4. Click on the Advanced button in the menu on the left side of the Settings window.
5. Click on the Reset Settings tab.
6. Pick the Powerwash option and then click on the Restart button.
7. Click on Powerwash to confirm your choice.
   
8. Chromebook will go back to default settings.

When the reset is done, your Chromebook should boot up without a problem.

Give Your Booting Issues the Boot

The methods presented in this article should be sufficient to get you out of the trouble. However, if they all fail, you should contact your Chromebook manufacturer or Google support.

Have you had booting problems in the past? How did you solve them? If there are other effective ways to solve this pesky problem, let us know in the comments section below.