Turning on laptop with arcade button

[kattastik]

Hello! I'm trying to build a little cocktail cab out of a decent laptop I have. I know a good amount about laptops but not as much on wiring as I'm fairly new to it, but was wondering if someone could help me. I'm looking to have everything enclosed and set up a button to turn the machine on and have the motherboard of the laptop out and found the power terminal for it. The actual clip that holds the ribbon for it has broken off but if I run a metal strip across the points the motherboard will turn on, but if I solder wires to each joint and attach a arcade button it does not power on. So I'm wondering if someone can help me determine if I'm doing something wrong, totally likely, or if the board is just a gonna since the piece has broken off? Any help would be much appreciated!!

Hopefully these may help, but attached are the board just taken apart, with the terminal clip broke and then with some wires connected to it.

[adder]

forget the arcade button for now, try soldering on just two wires to the points and then touch the wires together to see if the mainboard boots up. if it doesn't, use shorter wires, or perhaps better, use thinner wires (similar to the thin wires found in eg. laptops, not the thicker wires you find in eg. arcade cabs joysticks/buttons wiring).

if you have success with the above, then you can move onto the button. if you cant get the button to work it will most likely be either:

a. wrong type of button used (ie. wrong type of switch action/size/rating/etc)
b. button wired wrong
c. faulty button

[kattastik]

Ok so there are two points on the board where the terminal was, I used an old IDE cable and spliced the wires from there and soldered to the two points and then rubbed the two bare wires together and it did not turn the board on, the only way I can get it to turn on is by rubbing metal across them.

[BorgDog]

your picture looks like there are 4 contacts, can you isolate which 2 are turning it on?  don't rub across, just touch 2 with a short piece of wire

[adder]

...soldered to the two points and then rubbed the two bare wires together and it did not turn the board on, the only way I can get it to turn on is by rubbing metal across them.

that seems odd - you can use some metal to bridge the 2 gaps, but then, instead  if you use two short thin wires and then touch the two wires together, it doesn't work.
assuming you are holding the two wires together for long enough, I have absolutely no idea what is wrong. 

EDIT:...but BorgDog might be on to something.

[Slippyblade]

From what I am seeing, there were once four pads there and two of them are gone.  When you are dragging metal across the area, I'm betting it's making a brief contact with itty-bitty remnants of the old pads and closing the circuit.  Keep in mind that for some stupid reason, most SMD buttons that get used on laptops are 4 contact switches where the contacts are ganged in pairs so there is a good chance that's what this is.

[kattastik]

That does make a lot of sense, think I could put solder on the board over what was a contact to attempt to re-use it or is this board kind of SOL? ...or are there any other ideas on ways of turning it on some how?

[Slippyblade]

If you have access to solder paste, maybe a tiny dab over where each contact was and flowed with your iron?  Tiny work though, I'd use a magnifier.

[kattastik]

Awesome thank you guys! So last question assuming this board may just not work, for a new on would it be wise to leave the plastic clip in and just chain two wires to the contacts then and lead them to the button?