Earlier in the year our garbage disposal died or so we thought. It started buzzing one day and then we heard a pop and caught a faint whiff of smoke. After that it wouldn't even make so much as make a noise when we flipped the switch so we figured it was just dead. We unplugged it under the sink and moved on. We really didn't use it much (we didn't have one at our old house so we never really got used to having one here) so it really wasn't a big deal. We just figured we'd replace it eventually. They're not that expensive, the model we have actually retails for about $100.
The biggest problem we encountered with it not working was water draining from the dishwasher would occasionally back up in the sink. In that case reaching down to clean out small bits of food debris that made it through the sink strainer or plunging the drain with the rubber stopper was usually enough to clear it out.
For whatever reason and I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it, it never occurred to Jenny or I that it might simply be jammed and in looking up the replacement I apparently overlooked instructions on how to fix it. On Christmas Day we happened to mention its lack of working to my brother-in-law who mentioned using the hex wrench and later in the day it came up in conversation again with my own brother who told me about the overload protector button.
Sure enough that was all it needed. The one thing I did find was that an ordinary hex wrench did not provide enough leverage to move back and forth to free the jam. In my tool box however I had a 1/4" hex bit socket that combined with a 3/8" ratchet gave me the needed leverage to turn it. After that it started right up. Problem solved.
