What does this button do? Or is it a port/indicator/something else?

[polygony]

(Hope this screenshot of a phone photo will turn out clear, if approved - first attempt at posting one in these forums).

It's the rectangular thing to the right of the fingerprint logo, on the right-hand edge of my Envy notebook 13-ag 0500sa (2019).  It's about 15mm/5/8" long, 4mm/1/8" wide, slightly recessed (at the moment, anyway), and looks separate from the surrounding plastic.  If it's a button, it needs a firm press to work.

It's not a good time to just try it and see what happens, with the system already unstable and being about to attempt HP Cloud Recovery.  But if for instance it's a Flight Mode button (for which it would be a handy place when on the move), I'd use it to try and get the notebook out of flight mode (which it's been stuck in since a Windows update blue-screened my notebook soon after its first use, and might be complicating things).  If it's a button I can't remember if I've ever pressed it (it would have been 2 months ago).

[polygony]

Forgot to mention it would  great to find out before starting the HP Cloud Recovery process (which there might be time to do today in my country)!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Below is the link to the service manual for your notebook.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06139858

The object in question is a USB port with HP Sleep and Charge as illustrated in chapter 2, page 4 of the manual.

The plastic flap covering the port is on a hinge and moves in a downward direction to expose the full port.

[polygony]

Thank you!

I hadn't got as far as finding any manual or other instructions in the laptop when its problem started (and the HP apps aren't accessible from safe mode), so your link is very useful.  (As a bonus, the download was a manageable size for my phone).

Looking at the illustration in the manual, the rectangle I meant is actually the fingerprint reader, so it can't be causing any complication (or be able to remove one), because enabling/using it hasn't arisen yet.

(Still enough time to create the bootable USB before shutting down for the night, hopefully!).

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, the Cloud recovery tool is a handy item to have.

I used it to factory reset two HP 255 G7's I bought on eBay.

Worked like a charm.