Would my PSU turn on if it's not hooked to anything?

[trots]

Stupid question:

I saw in another post that someone received the same case/psu that I did, and theirs came with a dead power supply. If I plug in my psu to the wall in and turn it on without hooking it to a mobo (which is being shipped) would it go on? I'm guessing no, because it seems then it would always be on when it's plugged in, and of course it wouldn't be. Also, if I hook it to an empty mobo alone and the mobo to the case switch, just to test it, might I do any damage if it has no hardware to power?

Thanks.

 

[WA261]

there is not a switch on the back of the psu, an on/off? i can turn mine on without any problems when it is not hooked up to anything....the mobo IS harware ;-) you wont damage it by powering it up with nothing else in it

 

[Demon-Xanth]

For an ATX power supply to turn on the PS-ON line must be grounded. An AT power supply doesn't care but I haven't seen those used on a modern PC motherboard for some time now.

 

[phlashphire]

<< For an ATX power supply to turn on the PS-ON line must be grounded >>


How do you exactly go about doing that w/o plugging it into a mobo? (I vaguely remember someone saying to use a metal paper clip on a pair of the molex connectors... not sure how).

 

[WA261]

<< For an ATX power supply to turn on the PS-ON line must be grounded >>



i just assumed he was going to do the wire trick =)

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Jumper the green wire to a black one.

Edit: a load may be required on the 5V line (some need it, some don't)

 

[trots]

Thanks muchly to all who answered.

My new mobo's arriving today (yippee!), so I'll know soon enough.

-- Paul

ps No way i'll try the wire trick... if I were confident enough to do that, I wouldn't have had to ask this question in the first place! 🙂

 

[nexus_7]

if you do it the way mentioned..its easy, just bend a paperclip and stick it in both holes. A better yet more expensive option is this.

Greg

 

[FlowerMan]

Shorting the green wire with any black wire on the ATX connector is the easiest and cheapest way to start a mobo without a mobo. Just use a paperclip like nexus said.