Dell Chromebook 3100 Troubleshooting

You press the power button on your Chromebook... and nothing happens.

Ensure the power adapter is plugged in and the charge light is on. If the light is not on, and the adapter is plugged in, the adapter is faulty. Consider purchasing a replacement adapter.

If the adapter is plugged in, and the light on the adapter is on, make sure the adapter is connected to the laptop. If the laptop only powers up when the adapter is plugged in, regardless of charging time, then the battery is faulty. Replace the battery.

Hearing crackling or other distorted sounds

Test audio through the computer speakers, then test it using headphones. If the audio is only distorted while listening via headphones, the audio jack or the headphones themselves may be faulty. If you have a USB external Stereo Sound adapter, try using that with headphones. If distortion doesn’t occur, it means your audio jack is faulty. Audio that cuts in and out is often a sign of a loose audio jack, so make sure the audio jack is fully inserted in the computer.

The screen on your Chromebook 3100 doesn’t show anything, and you know the device is turned on.

Most commonly, no display cause comes just because of faulty RAM or RAm that is already full. You can try hard rebooting the device to optimize RAM.

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

If the problem persists, then most likely your screen is faulty

Chromebook is powered on, but the touchpad is not responding

Start by troubleshooting the touchpad, plug in an external mouse so check if your cursor works. If it works, then the problem is specific to the touchpad and not a bigger problem with the Chromebook.

Make sure there is no dust or dirt on the touchpad. A good cleaning may be in order. Use a soft cloth to wipe away any dust or dirt that's on the touchpad. Also, use a can of compressed air to puff out anything that's in the cracks or under the touchpad.

Press the Esc key several times. The Esc key stops loading the current page. If something on the page is causing your computer to malfunction or freeze, pressing Esc a few times can interrupt the process and get things back to normal.

If the problem priest, try performing a Hard Reboot

Camera not activating or camera appears blurry/distorted.

Turn your computer off and turn it back on. You may also want to do a hard reboot:

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

Try to see if the problem persists in only one application. If so, check the app settings or remove the app. Furthermore, there may be another app that is currently using the camera. Disable that app in order to use the camera on a different app.

If there are smudges and/or blurriness in the image, use a soft cloth to wipe it down. If there are noticeable defects like a crack in the camera itself, you may want to buy a webcam or seek to replace the camera.