Dodgy Switch on (or dodgy user?)

[MikeStroud]

Hi. I cannot work out how to turn my laptop on. It has two buttons:

1 - One that looks like a dial with hand on it. No idea what that does.

2 - A conventional power on/off button. If I press this for a second nothing happens. If I press it for say 5+ seconds a white light on the button lights for about a minute then goes out, nothing else happens. If I press this button for a few seconds then the white light comes on always but the laptop seldom actually boots up so I then wait for the light to go out again; I have to repeat this many times before the laptop actually boots up.

What am I doing wrong? It takes about 20 mins to power my laptop up as I have to try pressing the power on/off button different times and it only works say 1 in 5 times. I have never had any issue with any other laptop.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi. I cannot work out how to turn my laptop on. It has two buttons:

1 - One that looks like a dial with hand on it. No idea what that does.

2 - A conventional power on/off button. If I press this for a second nothing happens. If I press it for say 5+ seconds a white light on the button lights for about a minute then goes out, nothing else happens. If I press this button for a few seconds then the white light comes on always but the laptop seldom actually boots up so I then wait for the light to go out again; I have to repeat this many times before the laptop actually boots up.

What am I doing wrong? It takes about 20 mins to power my laptop up as I have to try pressing the power on/off button different times and it only works say 1 in 5 times. I have never had any issue with any other laptop.

Hiya, is this a PC specialist laptop? Can you post your full specs from the order page?

 

[MikeStroud]

Hiya, is this a PC specialist laptop? Can you post your full specs from the order page?

Chassis & Display	Ionico Series: 17.3" Matte QHD 165Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1440)
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 11800H (2.3GHz, 4.6GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)	32GB Corsair 3200MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card	NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive	500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W) Partitions: 500GB
2nd M.2 SSD Drive	2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W) Partitions: 2000GB
Memory Card Reader	Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor	1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery	Ionico Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card	2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless	GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options	1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language	IONICO 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language	United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media	Windows 11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software	Microsoft® Office Home & Student 2019 (1 Digital License)
Anti-Virus	NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser	Google Chrome™
Notebook Mouse	INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam	INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty	3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery	STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time	Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Welcome Book	PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland

 

[SpyderTracks]

1 - One that looks like a dial with hand on it. No idea what that does.

This isn't a power button, it's to do with which performance profile you're currently on.

2 - A conventional power on/off button. If I press this for a second nothing happens. If I press it for say 5+ seconds a white light on the button lights for about a minute then goes out, nothing else happens. If I press this button for a few seconds then the white light comes on always but the laptop seldom actually boots up so I then wait for the light to go out again; I have to repeat this many times before the laptop actually boots up.

On any modern laptop you have to press and hold the power button until it switches on. This is to prevent mistakenly powering it on when it's in a backpack or something.

 

[MikeStroud]

OK thanks.

So re button (1) what does that do? And do you press it when the laptop is on to change profiles?

Re button (2) how long should I have to press it for? Sometimes I press it for 1 min and the PCS splashscreen doesn't appear. Other times the splashscreen will start after say 5 seconds.
Thanks.

 

[SpyderTracks]

So re button (1) what does that do? And do you press it when the laptop is on to change profiles?

Yes, as above, it changes performance profiles.

Re button (2) how long should I have to press it for? Sometimes I press it for 1 min and the PCS splashscreen doesn't appear. Other times the splashscreen will start after say 5 seconds.

Should be about 5 seconds or so.

Are you using on battery or plugged into the wall? If plugged in, is the power icon lit?

 

[MikeStroud]

I have tried with both battery only and plugged in, seems the same in either case.

With the power connected (battery at 100%) the lightening symbol (to the right of the on/off switch) is not lit up. I have never seen that lightening symbol lit up and wondered what it was. It has a small hole to the left of it which I assume is an LED? I have never seen that lit up.
See attached picture that shows on the taskbar the power is connected but lightening symbol is not lit up.

 

[MikeStroud]

I meant to say, I aim to do more scientific tests tomorrow and measure the times etc.

 

[MikeStroud]

It seems to be:

If laptop in sleep mode then a short press is needed to start it, keep finger on too long and it turns off.
If laptop is fully off then keep finger on power button til it lights up then remove and it will start. If you leave finger on it turns laptop straight off again.

Behaviour is slightly different from other laptops I've had, not helped by the splashscreen seemingly coming on delayed.

Anyway I think I am getting the hang of it now thanks.

 

[MikeStroud]

In fact I think I have worked out the issue. I was still having to press the on button for 8-12 seconds to get the laptop to boot.

PCSpecialist support didn't offer any ideas so had to try and work it out for myself. Adding here in case anyone has the same issue.

I went into the UEFI, on booting the laptop tries about 5 other boot devices before it gets to my OS SSD drive. I changed it so the boot order is "UEFI USB" first then the OS SSD drive.

Now it boots after a second or so of pressing the on button instead of ten times that.

 

[Martinr36]

In fact I think I have worked out the issue. I was still having to press the on button for 8-12 seconds to get the laptop to boot.

PCSpecialist support didn't offer any ideas so had to try and work it out for myself. Adding here in case anyone has the same issue.

I went into the UEFI, on booting the laptop tries about 5 other boot devices before it gets to my OS SSD drive. I changed it so the boot order is "UEFI USB" first then the OS SSD drive.

Now it boots after a second or so of pressing the on button instead of ten times that.

The drive with your OS on should be first in the preferred boot order

 

[MikeStroud]

The drive with your OS on should be first in the preferred boot order

Thank you. You are right. Now I have changed that it is much better. But why didn't PC Specialist deliver the laptop to me like that? It's been causing me chaos having to mess around so much and sometimes taking 10mins+ to turn it on.

Attached image shows the boot order as delivered by PC Specialist (after QA etc!) -

 

[Martinr36]

Thank you. You are right. Now I have changed that it is much better. But why didn't PC Specialist deliver the laptop to me like that? It's been causing me chaos having to mess around so much and sometimes taking 10mins+ to turn it on.

Attached image shows the boot order as delivered by PC Specialist (after QA etc!) -

It probably accidentally got left at that when they installed the test system