My Xperia phone doesn't turn on or doesn't charge

If your phone doesn’t respond when you try to turn it on, or if it won’t charge, follow the steps below one at a time. These actions can often solve the issue without needing a repair.

1. Try turning on your Xperia

• Press and hold the power button until the device vibrates, then release it.
• It may take up to 10 seconds for the vibration to happen.
• If the screen stays off, you can continue to the next step. 

2. Check if the battery is charging or adequately charged 

• Connect your phone to a charger and wait. Use the original Sony charger and a USB cable intended for your device. Some inexpensive cables may have limited charging capacity.
• If the battery is completely drained, it may take up to 30 minutes for the charging icon to appear. The screen may stay dark during this time, even though charging has started. It can take up to 4 hours to fully charge a drained battery.
• If charging still doesn’t work, try a different USB cable and plug it into a computer’s USB port. If charging starts, your original charger or cable may be faulty.

For more information about charging your phone, you can visit the following article: The art of charging: everything you need to know about phone battery life and charging.

3. Remove the SD card (memory card)

• If your phone has a memory card (SD card), remove it and try restarting the phone.
• If the phone starts working, the card may be corrupted. Replace it if needed.

4. Force restart or force shut down your smartphone

You can force your smartphone to restart or shut down if it's frozen or unresponsive. This process does not delete your data.

To force a restart

1. Press and hold the power and volume up buttons at the same time.
2. When the phone vibrates once, release both buttons.
3. The phone should restart.

To force a shutdown

1. Keep holding the power and volume up buttons past the first vibration.
2. After a few seconds, the device will vibrate three times and turn off.

5. Try a 2-minute restart

If a regular force restart doesn’t help:

• Press and hold both the power and volume up buttons for 2 full minutes.
• Ignore any vibrations and keep holding.
• After 2 minutes, release the buttons. Your Xperia will shut down.
• Charge the phone until the charging icon appears. Then try turning it on again.

6. If your phone turns on, back up your data

It’s always a good idea to back up your important data.

Back up with a Google account

1. Go to Settings → System → Backup (which may be located under the Advanced tab).
2. Turn on Backup to Google Drive. Your app data, device settings, and call history will be automatically backed up.

Tip: When setting up a new phone, logging into the same Google account will restore your data. 

You can synchronize your app data, device settings, and call history automatically by logging in to the Google account used to synchronize data on your old smartphone.

Save your pictures on your computer

• Your phone must be switched on. Unlock your phone and connect it to your computer using a USB cable.
• If prompted, select the "USB transfer" option on your phone. 
• Use File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac) to browse your phone’s files.
• Copy and paste your photos, videos, and other files to your computer.

For more information, please refer to our picture transfer article on Xperia.