Depending on the design of boards, some psu’s are switched on by the main board, others will have all the voltages present (17pw boards are the best most common example).
You can switch most boards while on the bench by adding voltage or sometimes earthing. Not only does this mean a test can be done with out the rest of the set (although the set does not run with a load) it also tells you if the fault is on another board as is the case with this set.
If you look at the general forum on this site about the diagnostika tool, this is a palm sized device that works on this principle, simply because its how power supplies work.
We did some service info. a few weeks back showing how most engineers do this on a practical level.
Regards
Andy