In fact, there are many and varied reasons why you may want to turn on your PC without having to press the power button. We have already mentioned two (that it is damaged and not working, or you have a PC installed out of the box for no reason), but there are many more, such as being able to start a PC remotely when you are not at home. In any case, even if it’s just “science”, it doesn’t hurt that you know what methods are available to start a PC without pressing a button, right?
How to start a PC without pressing the power button
The first method is also simple and very obvious. Many modern mother boards, especially the high ones, include power button and reset to the motherboard itself, so if you have one of these boards you will have to press a button (be careful not to touch anything else when you do so) and voila, the computer will start.
In this case you will not have to worry about problems or prosperity, just press a button and that is all. As a general rule, this button is very visible because it is usually red as you can see in the picture above, and is usually located to the right of the RAM memory socket, or at the bottom of the motherboard, almost at the edges.
The second method is less risky, so we only recommend that you do it if you see an urgent need to start a PC anywhere. This method includes shortened mother board pins forcing to start. Don’t force the word short circuit because it’s okay to do it, and don’t risk it if you do it right, because all we do is simply connect the power pins of the mother board.
For this you will need a flat screwdriver with a plastic handle (although obviously, the handle is very important) and you should get a connecting panel for the mother board, where the box wires are connected. You should check where the Power switchch connector (POWER_SW, PWR_SW or PWSW) connects, usually in the lower right corner of the motherboard.
You will usually have a POWER SW box cable connected to these pins, as this is a cable connected directly to the power button in the box and is what enables us to turn on the PC. When you connect the cable, disconnect it, and all you have to do with a screwdriver (maybe flat), simply touch both pins at the same time. As soon as you do, you can remove the screwdriver and the PC will start.
The third method means that you have done the previous suspension, so if you have not already done so and in your case the problem is that the power button in the box is not working, we are afraid you will have to use one of the previous two methods.
As you can already imagine, the third way you can start a PC without a button is installing WOL (Wake on LAN) function on the motherboard, which allows that when the PC is turned off, the network card is always on standby. by and if it receives a boot command remotely, it will start the PC. This is set to BIOS / UEFI, of course, but you also need to pre-set the remote boot.
Finally, there is a fourth option but it does not always work, because it depends on the mother board and the power supply you have, because the behavior and the parameter we will describe next depends on the manufacturer. In any case, it also requires that you prepare in advance, so if not, you will have to use one of the first two methods we have already described.
This last parameter is also configured in the BIOS and is called «Return to AC Power Loss«, To be set as Power On (automatically comes as Power Off).
If this is set up as Power On, to turn on the PC you must turn off the PC power supply on the back button, or simply unplug it. Wait for about 30 seconds for the source capacitors to discharge power, then continue power / plug again. The PC should open again after that.
