Lenovo ThinkPad X280 Troubleshooting

Device’s battery drains quickly or does not hold a charge for long.

Poor battery life can be caused by high screen brightness. The device’s brightness can be lowered by going into screen settings and either turning down the brightness or turning auto-brightness on.

Poor battery life can be the result of the device searching for Bluetooth or WiFI networks to connect to. Through settings, turn WiFi and Bluetooth off until they are needed.

Apps that run in the background drain battery life. To help with this, this device has a tool to determine which apps are causing the most battery consumption. In the search bar of the device, type in “see which apps are affecting your battery life” and click “open.” Decide which apps can be turned off and disable their background activity by going into “apps.”

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 using this guide.

The fingerprint scanner doesn’t recognize user fingerprints for authentication.

This may occur if you are using an incorrect fingerprint reader driver or if it’s out of date. To solve this, you can update your fingerprint reader driver automatically using “Driver Easy,” as it will recognize your system and match the driver for it. Run the Driver Easy application and click “Scan Now” to allow the program to scan the Lenovo ThinkPad X280 and detect any related problems besides updates. Click “Update All” to download and install the correct version of all missing or out of date drivers on your Lenovo ThinkPad X280 computer system. This will require the Pro version and you’ll be instructed to upgrade after clicking “Update All.” If you’d prefer to do it for free, click “Update” and refer to the manual instructions provided. If option 2 fails to work, move on to option 3.

Check the Lenovo ThinkPad X280 for grease, residue, or scratches on the scanner or sensor, as any physical damage can impair the computer from working properly. If there is any residue, gently wipe with a clean cloth. If there is damage or your sensor is faulty, you may need to replace the fingerprint scanner.

The speaker does not play audio or plays audio that is static.

When there is no audio coming from the Lenovo ThinkPad X280speaker, verify that the reason is not due to the volume being muted. To check, click the speaker icon on the Microsoft Windows system tray in the bottom right-hand corner. Then, you will move the slider to the right to increase the volume and see if the sound is audible. The Lenovo Thinkpad X20 might also not be playing audio because the sound is going to a pair of headphones, Bluetooth speaker, etc, instead of the laptop’s main speaker system. To troubleshoot this issue you will first need to right-click on the speaker icon mentioned above. Then, you will select the open sound settings option. From there you will see the “Sound” page. Under the “Output” heading you will confirm that the correct device is selected in the dropdown box under “Choose your output device”. The Lenovo Thinkpad X280 main speaker system is called “Speaker/HP (Realtek High Definition Audio).

The cooling fans on your laptop that are essential for keeping it from overheating can also be a factor that causes static or audio that is not optimal. One way to troubleshoot this issue is to shine a flashlight into the vents of your computer and check for dust, a loose screw, or cracks in the fans. You can get rid of excessive dust by using a household bottle of compressed air. A loose screw can be an easy fix by simply opening the body of the computer and using a small screwdriver to tighten. If the fans are beyond repair they can be replaced if needed.

One issue that may be causing your device to not produce audio is a corrupted driver. To fix this problem you will need to press the Win+X keys on your keyboard and select “Device Manager”. Then you’ll click on the “Sound, video, and game controllers” option. Next, right-click on the audio device and select “Uninstall”. Lastly, we recommend that you restart your laptop. You will do so by pressing the  Windows “Start” menu on the bottom left corner of your screen. Then, you will need to press the “Power” button and you’ll be given the option to press “Shut Down” or “Restart”. Press “Restart”.

If you checked everything and still your speakers aren’t working, it may be time to replace them.

Your ThinkPad X280 is overheating.

Place it on a hard, flat surface to ensure proper ventilation. Poor ventilation could be the cause of your device overheating; blocking airflow of the vent causes the fan to work harder to cool your ThinkPad down.

If your Lenovo ThinkPad X280 is currently overheating, try turning it off and unplugging it from the power source. Allow it to cool down for a little while, before doing anything else with it. Continual use of your device while its overheating can potentially cause accidental damage to your hard drive.

Check for any lint/ dust in the vent of your ThinkPad. The vent can be found on the right hand side of your device. Dust in the vent can block airflow to the fan inside of your ThinkPad, making it difficult for the fan to cool your computer. We recommend routinely cleaning your vents to prevent buildup of debris.

If the fan assembly is still unresponsive or has been damaged, use this guide to replace the fan assembly.

Trackpad does not follow the movement of the finger.

An unresponsive trackpad could be due to a frozen system. A quick way to solve this is simply restart the device.

Certain key combinations can disable the touchpad when pressed accidentally. To solve this, press the windows logo and “R” key at the same time to trigger the run dialog. Type “control” in the pop up box to open the control panel. Locate “mouse,” switch to the last tab, and check the box that says “Enable TouchPad.”

Outdated device drivers can cause touchpad issues. Device drivers can be updated through typing “Device Manager” into the search bar. Next, in the open page find “Mice and other pointing devices,” right-click and select “Update driver software.” Then, click
"Browse my computer for driver software,” select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer,” and click “Have Disk.” Finally, select “touchpad driver version” and “install.”