Motherboard only powers up with paperclip trick?

[cwolfer]

Odd problem...

building a computer for my little brother (second computer I've ever built).

I have tried two different mother boards.

Neither mother board receives power when the 24 pin connector is plugged in.

However, when only the 4 pin part of the 24 pin connector is plugged in, and I use the paper clip trick on the 20 pin connector (touching green and black), the motherboard powers up (fans spin).

It's even more confusing, actually...on the 2nd motherboard I tested, a green light will come on when I plug the power connectors into the mobo, but nothing will activate/spin. But everything comes to life when I use the paper clip trick.

Power supply issue? Mobo issue? Builder issue?

 

[Jim_L9]

Sounds like a problem with the power switch on the case. Did you make sure the wires for the power switch are connected to the motherboard?

 

[cwolfer]

So it seems there is a problem with the power switch on my first mobo.

I hooked it up with a spare mobo I had and it worked fine...at least power wise.

New problem:

I'm using a sapphire radeon 6870, and it boots fine when I only plug one of the power cables into it, but when I plug two into it, the machine powers on for a millisecond and then seemingly shorts out and cuts off when I plug both connectors into it.

Unfortunately, with only one power cable, I don't get any display on the monitor even though fan runs.

 

[ImterriblewithPCs]

So was this a problem with the mobo and when you tried it with a different mobo did the pc work and boot? I'm having the exact same problem!