🔌 Lenovo P510 PSU Click - No Power Until Press + Reseat Fix
📆 2025-10-14 14:29
I recently ran into a frustrating issue with my Lenovo ThinkStation P510: The PSU would click when plugged in, but the system wouldn't power on. No fans, no lights, just a single faint click and silence.
Symptoms
- Plugging in the power cable caused a soft click from the PSU.
- Pressing the power button did nothing.
- System had no power whatsoever.
- However, if I held the power button while plugging in the cord, the fans would spin momentarily.
- Removing the GPU allowed the system to receive power (briefly).
- Fully functional again after reseating the GPU and RAM, plus holding the power button for 30+ seconds.
To be honest, I had already added a replacement PSU to my shopping cart before deciding to give the RAM and GPU a reseat.
What Fixed It
Here's what I did to bring it back to life:
- Held the power button for 30 seconds with the system unplugged. (Clears any residual charge or corrupted low-level state.)
- Removed the GPU and RAM, then reinserted them firmly.
- Plugged in the power while still holding the power button.
After that, the system posted normally and booted as expected.
Likely Causes
- Power supply latch protection triggered by a short or brownout.
- Faulty seating of GPU or RAM causing an internal error state.
- Static build-up or corrupted soft power state preventing startup.
Why I Missed It
I rarely use the power button at all - this box is part of a Docker cluster that's usually powered on via Wake-on-LAN. So it hadn't occurred to me that a physical button press might even be necessary to recover.
Lesson Learned
Sometimes it's not a dead PSU - it's just a protective state or poor contact. Always try a full power drain + component reseat before assuming hardware failure.
🔄 The Temporary Fix Wasn't Enough - PSU Replacement