Tiny hole with word 'reset' (?)

I googled ZE5000 RESET for you. The first hit was http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=120&prodSeriesId=83757&prodTypeId=321957&objectID=lpi06291 and tells exactly what it is for.

Are you sure it isn't in the documentation (either on paper or on a CD that came with the laptop)?

Kees

Because of the battery in a laptop, it's difficult to completely deprive the motherboard of power if it ever locks-up so tight that only something like that will fix it. Because of the CMOS batter on the motherboard itself, even removing the battery will sometimes not unlock it.

By "locks-up" I mean just flat-out freezes, and NOTHING will make it turn off... not even holding down the powerbutton continuously.

To remedy the problem, some laptop makers put a recessed "reset" button somewhere on the notebook. By "recessed," I mean that the button is down inside a hole which only something the size of maybe an uncoiled large paperclip can fit down into... or perhaps a very small-tipped phillips screwdriver or something.

There's a similar type of button-down-in-a-hole on the faceplate of most laptop CD/DVD drives so that they can be opened in an emergency even if the notebook is turned off.

Try to avoid using the reset button if you can. It really is just for emergencies. Well-behaved ones simply unlock the lock-up and that's all. Badly-behaved ones reset CMOS back to factory defaults... which isn't always what a person wants. When the reset button does the latter, any passwords in CMOS will be removed... and so if one is relying on a CMOS password as security, said security will go away after hitting badly-behaved laptop reset buttons.

Hope that helps.


___________________________
Gregg L. DesElms
gregg@greggdeselms.com
Napa, California