Thinkpad T510 is bricked after entering PIN in setup

My used Thinkpad T510 is bricked, for now.
Sequence:
came with no OS on a 500gb HDD
powered up to textual DOS-like screen
powered down, put on charger overnight
took off charger
installed SSD, booted to BIOS
removed password need in BIOS, Saved
still looking at BIOS, beeped and powered off
battery dead? plugged in charger
restarted with Win 10 1909 .iso on optical
Win 10 proceeded to install
finally it asked for a PIN, put one in
died/went dark/won't restart
optical drawer won't open
seemingly bricked
read web info about this:
Use the power button to restart your computer three times. This will start the Windows Recovery Environment.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...2cb149b?auth=1
the power button 3 times did nothing
THOUGHTS?

Beldar said:

My used Thinkpad T510 is bricked, for now....

Welcome to Ten Forums.

When you say 'bricked' do you mean you cannot even get as far as seeing the bios?

....still looking at BIOS, beeped and powered off
battery dead?

Certainly sounds like it....

Use the power button to restart your computer three times. This will start the Windows Recovery Environment. ... the power button 3 times did nothing

That will only work if you can boot up and at least get as far as Windows trying to load and showing the spinning dots. It won't help a 'bricked' PC that can't get that far.

All the signs are that the battery so dead that it's preventing the system booting normally (or at all). So remove the battery and run it with just the power cable plugged in. It should run perfectly well without a battery as a mains-only machine. My Lenovo Thinkpad T420 certainly doesn't need its battery, I've just booted it up without one.

Thanks for that idea, Bree, why didn't I think of that!? But I just tried it and it didn't help. Maybe it's a bad AC adapter, but what are the chances of that when it did boot, did pop the tray open, did install the OS up to the PIN entry?

So how much can you get it to do, with or without the battery? Can you see the Lenovo flash screen at power up? Can you still get into the bios?

If you can and you leave it showing the bios screen, will it beep and shut down unexpectedly as it did once before? If so you have a problem - and not necessarily the battery or the charger. It may be a loose connection or a fault inside the laptop.

With it shut down and the power plugged in, does the battery light come on to show it's charging? Does it go out when fully charged?

As for the Windows install, if all seems to be working while on the charger I would clean install again - this time with the charger plugged in at all times. There's no point in trying to repair your previous install, we have no idea how corrupted it became when the power failed. Best to start over.

The wording of your post #1 suggests that you have only just got hold of this laptop...

"My used Thinkpad T510...
...came with no OS on a 500gb HDD"

If so, what do you know of its history?

You may find this hardware maintenance manual useful:

https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pu...63Y0536_05.pdf

Bree said:

So how much can you get it to do, with or without the battery? Can you see the Lenovo flash screen at power up? Can you still get into the bios?

No.

If you can and you leave it showing the bios screen, will it beep and shut down unexpectedly as it did once before? If so you have a problem - and not necessarily the battery or the charger. It may be a loose connection or a fault inside the laptop.

With it shut down and the power plugged in, does the battery light come on to show it's charging? Does it go out when fully charged?

As for the Windows install, if all seems to be working while on the charger I would clean install again - this time with the charger plugged in at all times. There's no point in trying to repair your previous install, we have no idea how corrupted it became when the power failed. Best to start over.

I'd certainly try another install if only it had power to pop the tray or see the USB.

Beldar said:

Can you see the Lenovo flash screen at power up? Can you still get into the bios?

No.

With it turned off and the battery in place, does the battery light turn on? If not, see the charger and battery tests on page 37 of the manual I gave a link for in post #5.

If it appears to have power, then a dead HDD can sometimes prevent the bios POST tests from running. Try removing the HDD and see if you can then get into the bios. It's just one screw and a cover to remove to do that, see page 74 of the manual.

If that fails too, and I am correct in thinking you've just bought this used laptop, can you return it for a refund?

Bree said:

The wording of your post #1 suggests that you have only just got hold of this laptop...

"My used Thinkpad T510...
...came with no OS on a 500gb HDD"

If so, what do you know of its history?

You may find this hardware maintenance manual useful:

https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pu...63Y0536_05.pdf

I bought it from a reputable dealer on eBay on July 6th. No history given, except the dealer formatted theHD and tested everything. The listing says No Returns. But he may be open to an exchange. LENOVO THINKPAD T510 15.6” i5 M520 2.40ghz 4GB Ram 500gb HDD DVD RW W/ Charger | eBay
Before I press for that I'm going to try the steps you've suggested further down in this thread.

I tried starting it with the drive removed, no go. The charger from my old Dell Inspiron 3520 is too small.