While your case power and reset buttons may look different, electronically they are identical. As a temporary solution you could connect the cable from your reset button to the pins on the motherboard where your power button is connected now. Then just push the reset button to turn it on.
It should also confirm that it is the case power button that is faulty. If it works it was the power button, if it doesn't you have a motherboard problem or two bad switches. I can't remember the last time I actually had to use my reset button. maybe back in my windows 9X days.
Glad it worked for you, beats buying a new case. If you know someone thats handy with a soldering iron they could probably fix that for you. Thanks for the rep. :)
There is an auxiliary +5V supply inside the power supply that is always on. It feeds a circuit on the motherboard that turns the PC on. That circuit is always active as long as the power supply is plugged in. The power switch on the case is a momentary contact normally open switch. It only makes contact while being depressed. As soon as you take your finger off the circuit opens again. The power on circuit on the motherboard monitors the case power button for a press. If it senses that the button was pressed it powers up the rest of the power supply. On my ASUS motherboard, that 5V aux supply can also be feed to my PS2 ports. That powers up my PS2 keyboard and mouse even if the PC is powered down. The power on circuit on my motherboard also looks at my PS2 ports for any button press. Press a keyboard button or mouse button and my PC would power on. I only wish it would work for a USB keyboard or mouse. I've replaced my USB trackball with a wireless one and my keyboard is USB so I can't use this feature any more. I suffer from chronic back pain so it was nice not to have to lean over to reach down and turn on my PC.
I know this is kind of late response. What you should try is "Wake-on-lan". You can use your smart phone to turn your computer on and off with a app.
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