How to fix a Motorola Moto X4 smartphone that suddenly won’t turn on, has no power [Troubleshooting Guide]

There are a lot of possible reasons as to why a smartphone would suddenly refuse to power on. But generally, it’s either a software issue or faulty hardware. In most cases though, no power issues in mobile devices are attributed to software problems like when something triggers the battery or power system to go rogue and failed to work as it should.

The same thing can happen when some apps misbehave and push the processor to continuously work. This will eventually triggers rapid battery draining or abrupt shutdown on the device. Fatal system errors that caused major data corruption are also among the possible triggers. This usually occurs when a faulty update is installed and yields to data corruption. All these factors can trigger your phone system to crash and shut down unexpectedly.

Highlighted below are some applicable workarounds to deal with power issues on the Motorola Moto X4 smartphone. Read on to find what to do whenever you get to encounter a similar issue in which your Moto X4 suddenly won’t turn on.

Before we proceed, if you’re looking for a solution to a problem with your phone, try to browse through our troubleshooting pages to see if we support your device. If your phone is in the list of our supported devices, then go to the troubleshooting page and look for similar problems. Feel free to use our solutions and workarounds. Don’t worry it’s free. But if you still need our help, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

First solution: Force your Moto X4 to reboot.

When your phone screen suddenly turns black, it may be stuck on black screen or just went dead because the battery gets totally drained. If it occurs with a battery level reading at 20 percent or more, then most likely the phone system had crashed and stuck on black screen. In this case, forcing your device to reboot can help. Here’s how it’s done:

Press and hold the Power button for about 10 to 20 seconds. If this doesn’t work, then press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons simultaneously for 30 to 40 seconds. Release both buttons when the phone reboots.

This won’t delete any data saved on your phone, hence creating backups won’t be necessary beforehand.

Removing or replacing the battery is discouraged to prevent causing damage to the battery or phone components.

Second solution: Plug your Moto X4 into the charger and let it charge.

If your phone remains dead and refuses to power on with a force reboot, then it’s battery has probably emptied and therefore needs to be recharged. In this case, connect your phone to a charger and then allow it to charge for at least 30 minutes. Be sure to use the original charger and plug it into a direct power source or wall outlet to ensure that it’s getting the right amount of power to complete charging on time.

Als ensure that your phone is charging. Normally, you will see a charging indicator a few seconds after the phone is plugged into the charger and the charging icon remains on the display along with the current battery level it accumulates. If you don’t see any indicator that your phone is charging, then you will need to deal with charging issues first. Check your charger, charging cable, or charging port to determine what’s preventing your device from charging.

If your Moto X4 is charging and already has 50 percent of battery, force it to reboot while it’s charging. Doing so can help clear errant background apps that might have caused conflict and drained the battery faster than expected. To get this done, simply press and hold the Power button and Volume Down button together for about 30 to 40 seconds and then release when the phone reboots.

Third solution: Update phone software to the latest version.

If you managed to get your phone back on after charging, manually check for and install available update for your device. Doing so can help clear any system bugs and malware that might have triggered to phone to suddenly shutdown.

You can check for available updates on your Moto X4 wirelessly or over-the-air with these steps:

Tap the Apps menu icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap System.
The tap System Updates.

If an update is available, you will see a notification containing the update details. To download and install it, just follow the onscreen instructions. Please note though that a stable and strong Internet connection is required to complete the OTA update download and installation. Your phone must also have enough space and power to complete the entire process.

Fourth solution: Wipe system cache partition on your Moto X4.

Wiping the system cache partition can also help remove any temporary system files that may be causing the phone to shutdown and not turn on. This won’t delete your files and settings, unlike a factory reset or master reset. It’s also a recommended workaround to deal with post update issues like when your phone suddenly goes rogue after installing new software update. Here’s how it’s done:

With your phone turned off, press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons simultaneously until it restarts.
Press the Volume Down button to highlight/select Recovery mode option.
Then press the Power button to confirm Recovery mode restart. An Android bot image with a red exclamation mark will show up shortly.
While holding down the Power button, press the Volume Up button.
Use the Volume button to scroll to and highlight wipe cache partition.
Then press the Power button to confirm selection.
You may be prompted with an additional confirmation screen so if that happens, press the Volume Down to highlight Yes then press Power to confirm.
Your phone should then start clearing cache partition and when it’s done, the Reboot system now option is highlighted. Press the Power button to restart your phone.

Fifth solution: Reset your Moto X4 to its factory defaults (master reset).

A factory data reset removes everything that’s added and saved on your phone including apps, settings, contacts, personal information, and other contents. Any bug-inflicted errors including those that are inflicted random shutdown and system crashes will also be cleared in the process. In short, everything will be deleted. This can be considered as the last option if all else failed to fix the problem and your Moto X4 continues to shut down unexpectedly and won’t power on. Before you start to reset your phone, be sure to back up all your important data for safekeeping. Once you’re all set, follow these steps to reset and restore factory defaults on your Moto X4 through settings menu:

Tap the Apps menu icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap System.
Scroll to and tap Reset.
Select Factory Data Reset option.
Tap Reset Phone.
If prompted, enter you screen lock credentials to continue.
Then tap Erase Everything to confirm and start the reset.

Your phone will then start wiping everything and then restores the default or original configurations on the phone. Wait for your phone to finish the reset and then reboot automatically. Then continue to set up your phone as new.

If a factory reset through settings isn’t possible, then you can do the external reset on your Moto X4 instead. This is when you will use the hardware keys or physical buttons to reset your phone. To carry out an external reset your phone must have a minimum battery level of 25 percent. This is necessary to ensure that the entire reset will be successful and thus prevent corrupting your phone system.

Other options

If none of the prior methods is able to solve the problem and your Motorola Moto X4 still won’t turn on, then you’re most likely dealing with some bad hardware that need some fixing. In that case, taking your phone to a Motorola authorized service center would be necessary.

For further recommendations and troubleshooting assistance, you can contact your device carrier or Motorola Support instead.

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