Question Partial use of PSU connector?

[dorsalmo]

I used half of my PSU's 24-pin connector to connect the PSU to my Acer motherboard's 12 pins. (Yes, it fit without forcing.) When it didn't start, I thought maybe I should get a 24 to 12 pin adapter. Now that I'm using the adapter, it still won't start. Could I have fried the motherboard by using only half the pins? The system and CPU fans run, and I can hear the hard drive spin up, but I don't even get BIOS output to the screen. Also, the power button doesn't work; when I throw the PSU switch, the PC powers up without pressing it, and it does not turn off the PC.

 

[DSzymborski]

I used half of my PSU's 24-pin connector to connect the PSU to my Acer motherboard's 12 pins. (Yes, it fit without forcing.) When it didn't start, I thought maybe I should get a 24 to 12 pin adapter. Now that I'm using the adapter, it still won't start. Could I have fried the motherboard by using only half the pins? The system and CPU fans run, and I can hear the hard drive spin up, but I don't even get BIOS output to the screen. Also, the power button doesn't work; when I throw the PSU switch, the PC powers up without pressing it, and it does not turn off the PC.

Yes, you could have very well fried the motherboard. The problem isn't just that you used "half" the pins, it's also that pins do different things and there's no reason to think the 12 pins from the part of the motherboard port you used matched the functions in the Acer motherboard port.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I used half of my PSU's 24-pin connector to connect the PSU to my Acer motherboard's 12 pins. (Yes, it fit without forcing.) When it didn't start, I thought maybe I should get a 24 to 12 pin adapter. Now that I'm using the adapter, it still won't start. Could I have fried the motherboard by using only half the pins? The system and CPU fans run, and I can hear the hard drive spin up, but I don't even get BIOS output to the screen. Also, the power button doesn't work; when I throw the PSU switch, the PC powers up without pressing it, and it does not turn off the PC.

Was the adapter designed specifically to adapt standard ATX 24 pin to Acer's 12 pin? If not, it too could have damaged the motherboard, the PSU or both.