Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ITL6

Sometimes it'll boot.

But after 2 mins, either the screen freezes (like an old video game death) or else the whole thing just goes to black.

I haven't used this laptop much since purchasing it new 2 years ago. I suspect they sold me a bit of a pup.

I already put in some spare RAM --- to no avail.

I wanted to conduct a system restore, but no restore points were available.

Might a factory reset be of use? Any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

Did you follow the advice to boot from a live OS, such as Ubuntu?

15 hours ago, G-String said:

Did you follow the advice to boot from a live OS, such as Ubuntu?

Double-checking how to do that... I would download the OS onto my older (functioning) laptop, then put it on a thumb drive, then take the thumb drive and stick it in my newer (non-functioning) laptop, and try to launch the OS from my thumb drive. Do I have this process correct?

22 minutes ago, BananaBandit said:

Double-checking how to do that... I would download the OS onto my older (functioning) laptop, then put it on a thumb drive, then take the thumb drive and stick it in my newer (non-functioning) laptop, and try to launch the OS from my thumb drive. Do I have this process correct?

Pretty much.

A couple of options.

https://unetbootin.github.io

or

Pendrive Linux

YUMI Multiboot USB Creator for Windows and Linux

Easily create a YUMI Multiboot USB for Windows and Linux. Boot multiple ISOs, live distributions, and tools ~ all from one single USB stick!

Linux Mint is probably a good choice.