Sage-Tips

Will a power supply work without being connected to the motherboard?

Under normal circumstances, all power supplies (including those with an on and off switch) and their fans turn on due to a signal they receive from the motherboard. Therefore, unless your power supply connects to a working motherboard that sends that signal, the power supply will not work.

How do I run a power supply without a motherboard?

Simply plug one wire from the switch into the PSU’s green connector and the other wire into any of the black connectors. It doesn’t matter which one of the black connectors you use, and it doesn’t matter which end of switch is connected to which wire.

How can I test my power supply by itself?

How to: Test a power supply unit

1. Shut off your PSU.
2. Unplug all cables from the PSU except for the main AC cable and the 24-pin cable.
3. Locate pin 4 and pin 5 on your 24-pin cable.
4. Bend your paper clip so the ends can be inserted into pin 4 and pin 5.
5. Turn on the PSU.
6. See if the PSU fan turns.

How do I test PSU before installing?

Contact the green and any black wire on the 24-pin motherboard connector using a paper clip, that jump-starts any ATX PSU. While green is grounded, the PSU will run.

Can a computer work without a power supply?

No, you cannot start up a PC without a power supply of some sort.

How do I check my power supply without a computer?

Although PSUs are designed to only work while connected to a motherboard, you can bypass this by using a small length of wire. Commonly known as the paper clip test, this shortcut offers you the ability to check that the PSU is receiving power without using the motherboard.

How do you fix a power supply that won’t turn on?

Plug the PSU power cable into a wall socket or surge protector, and turn on the computer. Most power supply models have a light on back of the unit that glows when it’s powered on. If it doesn’t light, try a different power cable and a different socket to eliminate those items as the source of the problem.

Can I check my power supply without opening case?

No, not unless you can read the label information from outside the case, and I don’t think that’s possible. Unlike the motherboard or processor, the PSU isn’t intelligent, so you can’t run software that will interrogate it and find out what it is. You have to open the case and read the label.

How can I test my power supply without a paperclip?

Splendid. Yeah you can use copper wire for it, the idea it’s to simply complete the circuit between the black and green pin connectors that give the “go ahead” signal to the PSU.

How do you turn on a power supply without the motherboard?

How to get around having no signal Users can turn on a power supply without the motherboard by inserting a paperclip into the green and black wire sockets on the 20-24 pin connector. This action allows the user to power individual components rather than the whole machine at once.

What should I do if my power supply is not working?

If PSU doesn’t work, this means PSU goes wrong, not the motherboard. If you are using a laptop, you can plug your AC adapter to the laptop and turn it on. If this works, the motherboard is OK. How to test motherboard? Another motherboard test method should be to see if there are beep codes.

How do I test my power supply?

Most well-stocked geek-stores sell a “power-supply tester” that has all the appropriate connectors to plug each part of your PSU into, with spiffy LEDs indicating status of the various rails, connectors for IDE/SATA/floppy power cables, etc. They run ~$20 US.

How do I know if my Motherboard or power supply is dead?

Connect the GREEN wire with the adjacent BLACK wire. The power supply’s fan should start up. If it doesn’t then it’s dead. If the fan starts up, then it could be the motherboard that’s dead. You can use a multimeter to check if there is power output from the power supply.