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My laptop, as most of them, has this hard reset feature when you hold it for 5 seconds.

The problem is that I have a short-circuit somewhere there and the behavior is like someone was pushing the button.

I fixed like 80% of issues by changing the behavior as explained here Change Behavior of Linux Power Button but still - few times a day I would get a hard reset (probably the short happens for longer).

I have no such option in BIOS, and I suspect this is a hardware thing, but maybe not? Can I change this behavior in my configs? (I'm on ubuntu 14.04 with i3wm).

Of course I need some electronics expert to take a look and with luck I'll have that button fixed, but until then - I'm looking for a workaround.

Greg
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    There's no workaround. –  Sep 20 '17 at 04:49
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    Outside of disconnecting the button itself, which might present it's own problems depending on how the circuit is designed, there isn't really a work around to this problem. I do not suggest you disconnected the cable, if you disconnect the button, and the circuit is designed to reset the system when the circuit is open, then you have hosed your laptop till you close the circuit. – Ramhound Sep 20 '17 at 04:53
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    I had this exact issue. Lucky for me the power button was on a seperate PCB which I ordered a replacement for- you might be able to do that depending on your laptop. Or if you're really hardcore you could try desoildering the button and soildering on a new one, but that's pretty difficult to do – Blaine Sep 20 '17 at 06:33
  • Search youtube for how to take apart your laptop, and how to solder tiny things on boards, then ***backup your data*** & give it a try. Or at least take apart as much as you can & clean the button, maybe it even unplugs and is easy to change. All the PC power/reset buttons I've seen are normally open, and pushing them closes/shorts them, I wouldn't expect it to be the opposite, but removing it could be a problem to turn on the laptop. – Xen2050 Sep 22 '17 at 00:01

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This behavior is embedded in the hardware. The ACPI specification (page 62) shows and reads the following:

logic diagram power button ACPI

The power button can also have an additional capability to unconditionally transition the system from a hung working state to the G2 soft-off state. In the case where OSPM event handler is no longer able to respond to power button events, the power button override feature provides a back-up mechanism to unconditionally transition the system to the soft-off state. This feature can be used when the platform doesn’t have a mechanical off button, which can also provide this function. ACPI defines that holding the power button active for four seconds or longer will generate a power button override event.

So there seems to be no workaround for the issue you are experiencing in software. You would have to go in and fix/change the hardware (which I would consider a pretty daunting task in modern laptops).

mtak
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