Chromebook CB317-1H-C994 display freezes or goes black

chucknjoni

Bought the 317 two months ago, worked well until a couple of weeks ago when the screen froze, nothing could unfreeze it. Then 2 days ago the screen went blank and frozen. Battery not available so can't do the old yank the battery trick with my Dell PC. Both times I let it sit without the charger plugged in (verified to work) and in eventually unfroze. Not sure what I did. Is there a way to avoid this problem and/or resolve it quickly?

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

billsey

Tough to call without more diagnosis. What model do you have? It should be something like CB317-xxx-xxxx and the number is usually on the same sticker as the serial number. Which version of the OS is on it right now? When it freezes, try first pressing and holding the power button for ten seconds or so to go into power off mode. If the freeze is solid enough that that doesn't do anything try pressing the refresh key and power button at the same time. That should force a manual power off even if the OS is frozen. That at least should get you back up without having to wait so long...

Next, is there anything you are doing with it when the freeze happen, like watching a video or entering a web site? Do you have any apps or add-ons installed?

billsey

Tough to call without more diagnosis. What model do you have? It should be something like CB317-xxx-xxxx and the number is usually on the same sticker as the serial number. Which version of the OS is on it right now? When it freezes, try first pressing and holding the power button for ten seconds or so to go into power off mode. If the freeze is solid enough that that doesn't do anything try pressing the refresh key and power button at the same time. That should force a manual power off even if the OS is frozen. That at least should get you back up without having to wait so long...

Next, is there anything you are doing with it when the freeze happen, like watching a video or entering a web site? Do you have any apps or add-ons installed?

chucknjoni

It's a CB317-1H-C994 MFG date 2021/11/04 . Was OS 105.0.5195.134, updating now to 106.0.5249.112. Will see how that goes.

Been used sparingly the last week and so far so good. I will try those fixes if it freezes again, thanks. Just holding down the power button for 15 sec didn't seem to help, will try that again or the refresh+power combo if it freezes. Am not sure but I think I was watching a video the time it went black. The first time the screen just froze was on a website may have clicked a link, not sure. A few apps installed, need a list? Any to look out for?

billsey

There aren't many good utilities for Chromebooks that point toward crash causes, but it would help to test with a powerwashed system before the apps and add-ons are reinstalled. Though if the crash doesn't happen it doesn't necessarily tell us if the powerwash fixed it or not having the apps fixed it, until it happens again after apps were installed... It can be a real pain when software is acting up.

xttwo2

..the simplest solution is to buy another computer. Preferably one that doesn't annoy you with the kind of problems you're experiencing. But buying a computer new or used is as much a game of uncertainty as anything else.

TinaR

I work in the IT dept in a K-12 school district. We purchased the CB317-1H-C41X - Mfg Date: 2021/10/16. In the last few weeks we have had a half dozen or so of ours freezing up like you were talking about. We have updated those to Chrome OS 106 (if they were not already), power washed and/or recovery sticked. Nothing seems to be helping. Interesting though it isn't happening to everyone. A couple teachers said it happened when using the app Kahoot, another said she was pasting an image into a Google Doc when it froze. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. It is interesting to know that it happening to others outside our district!

chucknjoni

Interesting, Tina. There must be many of these out there with our problem. Unfortunately I am now on the road for 6 mon and left the Chromebook home in lieu of my old but trustworthy Dell PC. So I won;t know if I am still having the problem until Spring. I assume that you got yours working? Did you try opening them up and disconnecting the battery, i.e. hard reset?

But I have another question, even though it did not help apparently- how do you powerwash?

(I could Google it but thought it would be good to ask for this Chromebook in particular.)

billsey

The procedure is the same for all Chromebooks:

1. Sign out of your Chromebook.
2. Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Shift + r.
3. Select Restart.
4. In the box that appears, select Powerwash 
5.  Continue.
6. Follow the steps that appear and sign in with your Google Account.