Frustrated with a dead motherboard, then found a simple trick that actually worked

I spent about 3 hours last Tuesday trying to revive an old HP desktop that just refused to power on. Checked the PSU with a multimeter, reseated the RAM, even swapped the CMOS battery. Nothing. I was about to tell the customer it was totaled but then I remembered a tip from a forum about the front panel headers. Turns out the power switch connector was slightly loose on the pins, like maybe a millimeter off. I pushed it down firmly and the thing booted right up. Felt pretty dumb but also relieved on not having to replace the board. Has anyone else got burned by something that simple on a board that looked totally dead?

2 comments

2 Comments

hunt.rowan21d ago

Did a buddy of yours spend an hour reseating cables before finding the same loose front panel connector?

fiona_scott4421d agoMost Upvoted

@hunt.rowan exactly that, I felt like a fool. Two hours down the drain for a half-millimeter fix.