No, your mother's board did not short and die.
No, your mother's board did not short and die.
I connected the front IO port and noticed a short circuit, though the system shows power but doesn’t boot or turn fans on.
Make sure you’re using the right connections. Refer to the manual for guidance and double-check everything. Even after 25 years I’m still prone to mistakes. Turning on the PC briefly affects a couple of pins, while others act like reset switches. Some LEDs are shielded, so be careful with your touch. If it’s just the front panel wiring, shorting the whole board shouldn’t stop it from working.
Did you power up the motherboard before installing it to a case? I've noticed many dead motherboards lately. Consider using just the CPU board and PSU, without USB cables, RAM, or GPU. It shouldn't work, but the fans should spin (only the CPU fan is plugged in).
It seems the setup didn't go as planned. You can try testing the PSU without needing complex tools. Remove all cables from the PSU and connect the PSU's fan to ground. If the fan spins smoothly, it looks good.
When you say won't start, you get nothing no lights, no fan movement? Firstly that's likely mobo not CPU especially based on the assumed cause, the motherboard should be able to start the fans before it checks the CPU, memory etc, if your getting nothing it's not getting to the test state. Do you have any fans or RGB plugged into the PSU if these do anything then the mobo is sending the power on signal to the PSU. Secondly if your mobo doesn't have a surface mount power switch, try removing the power switch connector and just sort the pins (just the pwr sw ones) with a screwdriver.
Aright - before assamble the new board - always try board on the box and make sure it posts and do basic testing .