January 7th, 2025

Emergency power resets on Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Acer laptops

This is really a note to myself on how to do an emergency power reset. This is a desperation troubleshooting step if you find that the laptop won’t charge. One of my colleagues ran into this problem, and some Web searching suggested that there was a BIOS update for it, but unfortunately, the BIOS updater refuses to run unless the machine is on AC power, so they found themselves in a Catch-22.

For Lenovo laptops, look on the bottom for a small pinhole near the power connector. This is the power supply reset button. Unplug the laptop from all power sources, then insert a paper clip (or similar tool) into the hole and press the recessed button for 15 seconds.

For HP laptops and Dell laptops, there is a similar emergency reset procedure: With the laptop disconnected from all power sources, press and hold the power button for 15 to 20 seconds.

Acer figured, “¿Por qué no los dos?” They have both an emergency reset pinhole and a power button 15-second reset.

Author

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

3 comments

  • Lyubomir Lyubomirov 3 hours ago

    Something about Asus that I have a brand new laptop that worked for exactly one month and then stopped?

  • George Styles 1 day ago

    Can we mention that it’s worth double checking the hole has a switch under it rather than say a microphone, speaker etc before shoving a paperclip in it 🙂

    • alan robinson 5 hours ago

      hah. that would be unfortunate.

      I always assume long-press on the power button would do the trick, and it seems like it does.