Acer CP311-1H show blue light as if on, but screen stays black

SapphireRenee11

I have tried doing a hard restart, but am left with the same result. If I hold ESC and Reset and press the power button, the screen shows up to do a reset with a USB, which I sawsomewhere means its probably a hardware problem? Anything I can do for this without wiping it?

billsey

What happens if you just do a long press on the power button? If you hold the button down the blue light should go back off when the Chromebook is powered off. From there you should be able to do a normal power on. If the screen works to get you into the reset menu then it's not a hardware problem with the display.

SapphireRenee11

billsey said:

What happens if you just do a long press on the power button? If you hold the button down the blue light should go back off when the Chromebook is powered off. From there you should be able to do a normal power on. If the screen works to get you into the reset menu then it's not a hardware problem with the display.

I can power it off, but when I try to turn it back on, it still is only a black screen.

billsey

Does it display the Acer splash screen before it goes black? When it's black, if you shine a flashlight on it at an angle can you see faint traces of the normal display?

SapphireRenee11

billsey said:

Does it display the Acer splash screen before it goes black? When it's black, if you shine a flashlight on it at an angle can you see faint traces of the normal display?

It does not show any screen, it just stays black. And no, I cannot see any traces of the normal display.

SapphireRenee11

I will also note that now it is slowly flashing back and forth between blue and orange. 

billsey

There are a bunch of different CP311 models. Does yours have a battery reset pinhole? If so try a full battery reset, disconnect everything (including power) from the laptop and use something like a bent paperclip to press the reset button, holding it for 15-30 seconds. Wait 15-30 minutes then plug only the power back in. Wait for the charge light to show a full charge and then plug everything back in and turn it on. Any change?

SapphireRenee11

billsey said:

There are a bunch of different CP311 models. Does yours have a battery reset pinhole? If so try a full battery reset, disconnect everything (including power) from the laptop and use something like a bent paperclip to press the reset button, holding it for 15-30 seconds. Wait 15-30 minutes then plug only the power back in. Wait for the charge light to show a full charge and then plug everything back in and turn it on. Any change?

The only change is that now the blue light will come on for a few seconds and the turn back off. Screen still stays black and it's definitely fully charged.

billsey

It would be easier to help figure it out if I knew which model you have. It should be something like CP311-xxx-xxxx. It sounds like there's something weird going on with the battery, but without knowing which model I can't look at any design details...

SapphireRenee11

billsey said:

It would be easier to help figure it out if I knew which model you have. It should be something like CP311-xxx-xxxx. It sounds like there's something weird going on with the battery, but without knowing which model I can't look at any design details...

CP311-1H

If you need more than that, let me know

billsey

That should be enough, there have been something like three different generations of CP311, each with versions that have touchscreens or don't, then different memory, storage and such. The -1H pins you down to the first generation without touch. OK, we know the screen works because you can get into the recovery environment. That means we're likely looking at a failed OS load, failing early enough to not get the video initialized. It's possible the drive has just been corrupted in which case going to route of a reinstall from that menu using a ChromeOS USB install flash drive should fix it. It's also possible the drive has failed, which is a bunch more serious, since the drive is soldered to the MB. Are you still in warranty by any chance?

SapphireRenee11

billsey said:

That should be enough, there have been something like three different generations of CP311, each with versions that have touchscreens or don't, then different memory, storage and such. The -1H pins you down to the first generation without touch. OK, we know the screen works because you can get into the recovery environment. That means we're likely looking at a failed OS load, failing early enough to not get the video initialized. It's possible the drive has just been corrupted in which case going to route of a reinstall from that menu using a ChromeOS USB install flash drive should fix it. It's also possible the drive has failed, which is a bunch more serious, since the drive is soldered to the MB. Are you still in warranty by any chance?

I am not in warranty anymore. I tried to go ahead and get a recovery file put on a USB, but the program keeps getting stuck on Writing at 0%, so I will try to keep troubleshooting with that.

billsey

That could be a bad flash drive... Try a different one.

Easwar

Hi SapphireRenee11,

Try to Hard reset your Chromebook

1. Turn off your Chromebook.
2. Press and hold Refresh + tap Power .
3. When your Chromebook starts up, release Refresh .

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3227606?hl=en

SapphireRenee11

Easwar said:

Hi SapphireRenee11,

Try to Hard reset your Chromebook

1. Turn off your Chromebook.
2. Press and hold Refresh + tap Power .
3. When your Chromebook starts up, release Refresh .

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3227606?hl=en

I have tried that. Nothing happens.

billsey

Have you tried a different flash drive yet?

SapphireRenee11

billsey said:

Have you tried a different flash drive yet?

I'm working on it. I have tried two different flash drives and an SD card and get the same result. I read to try it in safe mode but my desktop is set up too far from my router, so I'm working on moving stuff to try that.

SapphireRenee11

billsey said:

Have you tried a different flash drive yet?

Safe mode worked. Unfortunately, I ran the recovery USB and it completed successfully but there is still nothing happening. Battery is fully charged and the only screen I can actually get to show is the recovery screen. Everything else stays black. I tried the recovery drive twice now. 

billsey

OK, that's pretty much pinned it down to a failed drive. The CP311-1H models all have eMMC drives soldered in on the motherboard, so a repair is likely to be nearly as expensive as a replacement.

Easwar

Hi SapphireRenee11,

It looks like hardware issue. Contact acer tech support,

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact​

OR book the unit for repair service,

https://customerselfcare.acer.com/CS2/#/

wlterrace

Chromebook Spin311 Black Screen issue solved when all other solutions I found online failed.

Disconnected the battery, pushed and held the power button for a count of 5, waited 1 hour reconnected and it worked!!!

My Spin311-3H KOHG had a black screen and the blue light on the power button was perpetually on regardless of what combination of key strokes and button pushing i did with our without the power supply connected.

The solution was to remove the screws on the bottom of the Chromebook, follow the wires from the large black flat battery to where it connects to the motherboard. Carefully peel back the black protective tape, using your fingernails or similar and pull the connector from the mother board. The next step may not have been necessary but I then depressed the power button for about 5 seconds hoping this would drain any residual power from the motherboard and any memory modules to reset them. Waited 1 hour (may not have been necessary but couldn't hurt) then reversed the procedure and reconnected everything. I will not that when I first did this nothing happened and there were no lights anywhere. I went back in and pushed the connector in with more enthusiasm as I had nothing to loose at this point and it worked!!

I give no advice on how this could affect your warranty but hope it helps you. Good luck