Question Jump starting laptop motherboard without power key

[s6joui]

I have an old Asus QLA501 which I want to turn into an HTPC. The problem is the laptop has the power button as one of the keyboard keys so I cannot turn it on without the keyboard connected.
Any ideas on how I can start the board without the keyboard? The part number is: 60NB01F0-MB6020

I tried finding any documentation about the motherboard but I didn't get any results.

 

[velocityg4]

You'll have to figure out which connectors must be shorted to act like the power switch would. Then solder wire to it and run them to a momentary switch.

It the computer had a separate line for the power button. The job is easy to find the switch. As it will likely be only several lines. Depending if the switch also had an LED.

If it ran through something else like a keyboard. There will be a lot of pins. When I did this with a Macbook. I grabbed a thin wire. Then with both ends ran them back and forth the connector at the same time, until it turned on. I kept repeating the process until I zeroed in on the correct pins.

On another Macbook. Before I figured out the above method. I tore apart the keyboard and separated the layers. Then traced the lines back from the power switch to locate the pins.

The motherboard may also have power on pads. Linked is an article to give you an idea of what to look for. Hopefully it is labeled on your motherboard. I wish this article was around when I had to figure out those Macbooks.

Turning on MacBook Pro without power button

Sometimes, when you troubleshoot a MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air problem you need to turn it on without using the power button. Is it possible? Yes, it is! In these laptops (unibody style) the power

www.insidemylaptop.com

Edit: Just be aware. Shorting the wrong two points could destroy the motherboard. It is a gamble. I only did it because these were ostensibly dead computers. I was asked to see if there was any way they could be repaired. Luckily they just needed new top cases.

 

[s6joui]

Thanks for the quick answer! I'll look into it 😀

 

[s6joui]

So I managed to start the motherboard shorting these two pads:

However, I shorted them again thinking it would stop the system but the screen went all glitchy and after that shorting the pads doesn't seem to do anythin anymore... Did I break them? I can still start the laptop via the keyboard and everything works fine.

 

[Zapthos]

On my laptop, if I remove the CMOS battery, normal battery & charger, it will turn on automatically once you plug in the charger. But there's one warning, if your device runs in UEFI mode, you will have to reinstall Windows everytime you do this, so I'd say don't do it on UEFI mode. How do you know if you have UEFI or BIOS? Boot up the laptop and go to start. Type 'msinfo32' and press enter. Now look for BIOS mode. If it says legacy, you're good to go. If it says UEFI, you don't want to do this. Here's a screenshot I've just made of mine:

 

[s6joui]

On my laptop, if I remove the CMOS battery, normal battery & charger, it will turn on automatically once you plug in the charger. But there's one warning, if your device runs in UEFI mode, you will have to reinstall Windows everytime you do this, so I'd say don't do it on UEFI mode. How do you know if you have UEFI or BIOS? Boot up the laptop and go to start. Type 'msinfo32' and press enter. Now look for BIOS mode. If it says legacy, you're good to go. If it says UEFI, you don't want to do this. Here's a screenshot I've just made of mine:

Man! Thank you so much 😀
Removing the CMOS battery did the trick. I can now switch it on by just connecting the cable and that's good enough for my use case.