[randommom]

I have reviewed the instructions and have a dumb question:

if the device does not come on at all or have any LED activity, can you still use the technique or not?

[Reed McLay]

If there is no sign of life in the device, and you have ruled out a battery problem by replacing with a known good unit, there is little hope of recovery.

You can try it, there is nothing to loose. The manual switch will force it to attempt the upload, but unless the device is working, it will not succeed.