dumb question. how do you turn on the pc?

freaking a. sorry guys, but this is a dumb question. how do you turn on the pc when there is not power switch. jeeze, i should of thought about this before even making the carputer!

its an ATX ps. the mobo is an Abit bx6

You will need a switch up front. The power switch on ATX mother boards are just simple switches connected to a header on the motherboard.. So you can just buy a switch at radio shack, run two long wires back to the motherboard and hook it up...

Some motherboards have the option in the cmos to turn on when power is applied, you might want to check for that as well.

What I am going to do is get the auto on/off relay, that way I don't have to worry about switching it off and on. Plus I am trying to keep it a mobile as possible (in and out of car), it would be a pain to unhook the switch from the MB each time I want to take the computer out of the car.

I have that atx autoff module, but i dont want it to turn on the pc all the time. i only want the pc to be one when the inverter is on. anyways, how do you guys deal with the inverter. i have no problem with turning it on, but i want it to shut off automatically when the car is off.. i believe the autoff module only turns off the pc, and not the inverter.

simply wire the inverter to an accessory powerline this way it turns on and of with the car, or use a relay and have it come on with a remote lead.

can I just use a 12v distribution block so my inverter, camera, and santeca tv tuner can connect to it and then just connect block to the accessory powerline?

My setup goes from Battery -> 30A fuse -> Auto Off -> Fuse Block -> 30A fuse -> Inverter w/ 30A fuse -> Plugin Strip -> Computer, HD Transformer, Screen Switch Box.


The fuse block is used to control other devices when the auto-off is activated. It works really nice. There is a switch inline with the computer power switch to reboot/turn off manually. I use powerchute for auto off, and then there is also a remote wire so I can turn the PC on/off via the remote. Also, when I start the car, it will automatically turn on either by remote or key.

Ok, done rambling. Auto-Off works great. :D

I would use the auto off, but i dont want the pc to turn on automatically cause i will only use the pc on long distance trips. theres no need to power it if im only driving for 5 minutes.

i came a cross a simple auto off device, allowing ~8minutes of runtime after the computer has been turned off. This allows me to go into a shop, or something, and get back the the car and still have the computer running, avioding 1-2mins of boot time. after 8 minutes it is shut off. for info on it, (and schematic) have a look at my site and look at the powersupply section, there u will find a schematic