[Spudnik]

I'm VERY new to hardware... but not stupid by anymeans... I decided to buy a new case for my Dell(I went with Dell, since it was a good deal and affordable for me at the time)... Anyways, right now. Everything is installed and working in perfect order, the motherboard fits and all the PCI slots line up, etc... One HUGE problem. I can't connect to the front panel, meaning: I can't power up my machine, or use USB ports on the front(Not as big a deal, four is more than enough for me anyways)... My 4450 Dimension motherboard has one cable that runs from the motherboard to a distribution panel(so to speak) and from there, you have your USB slots and a headphone jack, then from that panel you have a cable that goes to the power/reset button, HDD light. Now I fiddled around plugging in the "Power SW" cable into the pins that would normally run to my power button from the distribution panel(Which I hooked back up to my motherboard). But that lead me nowhere. So I did, however slide my dell case next to my new case, and plugged in my dell case, power button into the small panel, pressed power and viola my new case lit up and was functioning correctly. But that will just not do. Is there anyway I can get this to work, without ripping my dell case apart and duct taping my dell power button to the side of my new case?

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lol, thats usually the first thing to look at before buying a case, so remember that in the future. There should be some wires comming out from benieth the front panel on the inside of the case, if not, that means the case is probably new and the wires are wrapped up inside. the mb manuel will show what wire goes to what pin...its kinda tedious, but a local comp dealer will usually show you how for free or do it for a small charge. hope this helps

Nixx

[nixx]

lol, thats usually the first thing to look at before buying a case, so remember that in the future. There should be some wires comming out from benieth the front panel on the inside of the case, if not, that means the case is probably new and the wires are wrapped up inside. the mb manuel will show what wire goes to what pin...its kinda tedious, but a local comp dealer will usually show you how for free or do it for a small charge. hope this helps

Nixx

[Spudnik]

I have those wires, the thing is, there is NO place for them in my motherboard, since the Dell motherboard did not use those wires, but used a single calbe to run from the motherboard to the front panels

[nixx]

what did the connection liik like on the mb?

[Spudnik]

Closely like the connections from the MB to the HDD, CD-ROM, Floppy, etc... But smaller

[nixx]

you mean female multi-pin?

[Spudnik]

yes

[boob]

So the dell had a single connection with all the wires and your motherboard you are connecting has the connection pins for the wires spread out? If I'm understanding correctly, you will need to pull the wires from the connection plug, and reconnect them into several seperate connector ends in order to spread them out on the motherboard. It's easy to do, you just need to find the connectors, which shouldn't be too hard either.

Edited by boob, 30 September 2005 - 07:22 AM.

[Spudnik]

Let me reiterate. I put my Dell Motherboard, into a new case. Everything fits perfect. except: The MB has a multi wire(that is similar to what connects the MB to the HDD, Floppy, And CD drives, etc...) connection for the power button(and front panel[USB, Head phones, etc]), that runs from the MB to a sort of distribution panel, which holds the USB ports and the head phone jack, then from there there is another multi wire, that connects to the power button panel itself. Now my case came with individual "POWER SW, RESET SW, HDD LED" wires. Now these don't fit into my motherboard, anywhere. But they do fit into the distribution panel where the connection is made form that panel to the panel that houses the power switch. I tried to plug them in correspondingly using my high school electronics knowledge, but to no avail. So right now, I basically have an external power switch, but I would like to connect my Case power button to my Motherboard, I have no idea how though, or what I can do. I feel comfortable rewiring things, even soldering. Any input would be great... I am going to try to post pictures of my situation.

[Samm]

I know what you're saying spudnik, this is a common problem with proprietry systems like Dells. Am I right in thinking that on your particular system, the old case has a mini PCB board in the front with the power switch etc on & this board is then linked to the motherboard by a flat ribbon cable?

If so, you have two options you could try -
1. Locate the power switch on the mini PCB board & trace the two copper tracks leading from it to the header on this board. If you can see which 2 pins in the header the copper tracks lead to, you should then be able to figure out which of the 2 wires in the ribbon cable these correlate to. Follow the wires to the other end of the ribbon cable & this should tell you which 2 pins on the motherboard header are used for the power switch.

2. Test every pair of pins in the motherboard header by connecting the power switch connector from the new case to them. I believe you said you had already tried this method once, but remember that the 2 pins may be either in a line (on a single row) or spanning across both rows (assuming the header consists of two rows of pins & not one)

[Tyger]

Can you adapt the Dell swithces and leads to your new case? You may be able to keep the front buttons buth change switches.

[Spudnik]

Thank you Samm, you have explained my situation very well, as I could not, since i'm quite new at this, considering up until two weeks ago, I had never installed an piece of hardware into my case before, and now i've done a full case swap. I will try to plug the Power/Reset/LED plugs into the pins on the MB header again, hopefully I can figure it out... I have done stuff in an Electronics class like this before but it was mainly kits so it was pretty straight forward, but still, i'm not totally clueless. But I do have a few questions:

Would it matter what angle I plug the Power/Reset/LED plugs into the pins? Is there a positive and a negative? If that is the case then my number of configurations doubles, and this will be very difficult.

If I do get it to work, how should I mount the Motherboard Header in my case? And do you think it will need to be properly grounded?

[Spudnik]

Well my power button problem is officially fixed, thank you Samm. I still don't know how to rewire the motherboard header, so that the USB Ports can connect to the USB ports on my front panel, but i'm certain there would be some way to do it... Could I just strip apart a USB/MiniB that I have then crimp those wires to the USB wires that should be running to my motherboard?

[Samm]

Hi
Firstly, you shouldn't need to use the seperate header at all. You should be able to simply connect the case connectors directly to the motherboard (i.e. without using the ribbon cable).

Secondly, the switches (power switch & reset) have no polarity - they can be connected either way round. LEDs however do have a positive & negative and will only work one way round.

As for the USB - I don't recommend stripping any usb connectors apart.
If the front panel usb on the old case (which i assume is also mounted on the seperate PCB board) connects to a USB controller header on the motherboard, AND the wiring spec is standard, then you should be able to connect the new case's front USB fly lead to it.
However, you must be 100% certain of which wires connect to which pins in the USB header. Getting it wrong can fry the motherboard.

[Spudnik]

Yes I do need to use the seperate header, there are NO spots on my motherboard(the DELL motherboard) for the power/reset/LED connections OR the USB connections. It was set up like this:

Motherboard>Ribbon cable>Header>Ribbon cable(Larger pins)>"Power panel"(With Power, Power LED, and HDD LED

Right now I am set up like this

Motherboard>Ribbon cable>Header

with the wires for my front panel rearranged and working on the cradle with the larger pins that would hold the ribbon cable going to the "power panel". It is operational, and I am confident in the job I have done. But now I would like to try connecting the USB cables from my new case to the header(which housed the front panel USB ports on my old Dell case).

Edited by Spudnik, 30 September 2005 - 05:21 PM.