Rigging a PC power supply

[Tristan Lall]

Easy: just take a paperclip and connect the green wire to any black wire. The rear power switch (if so equipped) must be on. (I will assume your power supply is ATX; if it isn't, then this won't necessarily work, and won't necessarily be safe.)

Yes, I've done this. There was neither smoke, nor fire.

Here's an independent verification of my story:

First, power the thing up. You can make an ATX power supply that isn't connected to a motherboard turn on by grounding pin number 14 on the big motherboard power connector. It's easy to spot that pin, because it's the only one with a green wire going to it.

Use any handy bit of wire - like the paper clip in this picture - to connect pin 14 to any ground contact. The ground contacts are the ones with the black wires going to them. Presto, the PSU will turn on.

From dansdata.com