How to Jump a Motherboard Without a PWR_SW Button

By Published July 14, 2015 at 9:00 am
How to Jump a Motherboard Without a PWR_SW Button
Hardware Guides

Following our massive Fury X and Z170 motherboard feature pieces, we thought we'd take a moment to revisit some simpler how-to topics. Today's guide shows how to jump a motherboard without connecting the PWR_SW header that goes to the case power button.

Many modern motherboards now include on-board power buttons to boot the system for troubleshooting, but budget and mid-range boards don't always offer this option. In such a case, it's easy to jump the headers to start the board.

This sort of trick is primarily useful when building outside of the case before an install – to ensure all the components work, for instance. We use this regularly when testing. Here are the steps:

  • Ensure the 24-pin and 4/8-pin power headers are connected to the motherboard.
  • Ensure all other necessary power headers are connected to corresponding devices.
  • Locate the power switch header for the front panel connectors on the board. These are normally labeled “PWR_SW,” “PWR_BTN,” etc. In this instance, no cable is connected to the positive and negative headers.
  • Ensure the PSU is switched on and plugged in.
  • Find a screwdriver. Bridge the two pins allocated to the power button.
  • The system should turn on.

Let us know if you have any other troubleshooting questions. We'll try to run a guide on the process to perform tasks at hand.

- Steve “Lelldorianx” Burke.

Last modified on July 13, 2015 at 9:00 am
Steve Burke

Steve started GamersNexus back when it was just a cool name, and now it's grown into an expansive website with an overwhelming amount of features. He recalls his first difficult decision with GN's direction: "I didn't know whether or not I wanted 'Gamers' to have a possessive apostrophe -- I mean, grammatically it should, but I didn't like it in the name. It was ugly. I also had people who were typing apostrophes into the address bar - sigh. It made sense to just leave it as 'Gamers.'"

First world problems, Steve. First world problems.

Related items

back to top

We moderate comments on a ~24~48 hour cycle. There will be some delay after submitting a comment.

  VigLink badge