When to use this: The laptop is frozen, won't wake from sleep, or won't respond to the power button at all.


What you'll need: A straightened paperclip or SIM eject tool.


Steps:

  1. Disconnect the AC power adapter and remove any dock, USB devices, peripherals or connected cables.
  2. Turn the laptop over. The emergency reset hole is on the bottom, it is a single small hole separate from the speaker/vent holes. See location examples below.
  3. Insert the straightened paperclip into the hole and press. You should feel a button press/click. Lenovo's official guidance is a press and hold for 15 seconds to reset an unresponsive device.
  4. Remove the paperclip, turn the device back over.
  5. Reconnect the AC power adapter.
  6. Press the power button to turn the laptop back on.
  7. Once it boots, reconnect any peripherals and confirm it's working normally.


Note: This is a hardware power reset only. It does not reset BIOS/UEFI settings, wipe data, or affect Windows.


Example locations of the emergency reset hole are as follows