HP Spectre X360 won't power up/charge after swapping SSD

[Plato1123]

I took off the cover swapped in a new SSD.  There were no issues with this process whatsoever, it fit fine, didn't have to touch any parts other than a ribbon cable that was going over the top of it.  Now it won't power up, won't do anything.  I can't f'ing believe it, it was the easiest most straightforward upgrade ever, what could have happened?  I bought it off Amazon refurbished less than two years ago.  And now it's just done?

Held power button for 30 seconds etc.  No response from anything.  Checked that the power cord is fine.  It also had a full charge before I swapped the SSD.  Unbelievable.  

[Huffer]

Can we have the full model number? So we can look at the Manual? 

[Plato1123]

HP Spectre x360 15-BL152NR

I think I might have damaged a ribbon cable changing the SSD.  I've gone ahead and ordered a new ribbon cable.  I've never in my life seen another laptop where you had to remove a ribbon cable to upgrade the SSD.  

[Plato1123]

This is one of 3 HP computers I've purchased in 24 months and have to admit I'm really shaken by this.  This was the only one (refurbished by HP) that didn't have a significant warranty from HP, and now I'm realizing that was my critical mistake.  Waiting on a replacement ribbon cable and will call HP support if still no dice :'(  It was just an SSD upgrade, man

[Huffer]

Pages 36 and 37 here show where you had to go. 

Manual 

All I can say is examine the board and the zif cable for the usb audio power connector board very carefully and look for signs of damage. Try reseating again, being very careful to get the zif cable into the socket straight and as deep as possible. The laptop should charge a usb device when powered off if you connect the AC adapter and plug in say your cell phone. If you get no charge out I am pretty sure you did damage either that little board or the cable. I seriously doubt you damaged the motherboard so your laptop should still work if you can replace the board and cable. Every laptop tech has damaged a laptop at some point so don't be too hard on yourself. 

[Plato1123]

Thank you for your update, Huffer, that's useful information.  So I did see damage to my ribbon cable that blocked the SSD so I ordered a used ribbon cable off of ebay... and found that one was damaged too 🤣 had a bent over connector, so the seller probably bricked their HP spectre trying to upgrade the SSD too.  So I think it's a pretty obvious design flaw.  I'm going to call HP and send it in for repair.  There were at least 3 major design flaws on this one, 1) paper mache ribbon cable prevents SSD upgrade and destroys the whole laptop 2) Left speaker cuts out due to poor connection or firmware issue 3) GPU "smearing"/screen turns to gibberish if the machine gets too hot.  

Curiously my 2018 HP Omen desktop ($2200) seems to work great but this $1800 HP Spectre X360 was a real disaster :'(
Thanks again for trying to help Huffer and others.

[Plato1123]

Paid the $499 for repair and am expecting it back any day now.

[Huffer]

ouch

[Plato1123]

That stings a little bit BUT I'm actually ok with it because the motherboard swap it looks like maybe solved some other problems I've had with it since the beginning, the left speaker almost never working and a nasty gpu blurring of the screen.  The GPU issue made the machine really rough to use.  That seems like maybe it was solved.  The 1tb ssd is installed and we seem to be up and running again.  It actually is better to use than when I first bought it refurbished two years ago.  So I guess we'll call it a win, thanks HP.

[Huffer]

Glad you are happy