Fixing a friend's computer

Dakaggo · 02-23-2009, 12:49 AM

At the suggestion of Trotter I'm posting this here rather than in hardware troubleshooting.

So long story short, my friend's motherboard died. I bought a very similar but better one cheap. I went to put it in his case and it turns out he has a mini-ATX case (I thought it was a mid). So I decided to attempt to transfer everything to an older case I have that is ATX. I have pretty much everything in there but as I went to turn it on it wasn't working. I noticed that there isn't anything plugged into the front panel. Now after looking at the front panel and the manual it seems that the panel connector isn't the same as the equivalent one on the motherboard.

First pic is the general setup, as you can see the cable from the front is too short to reach the mobo. Although I'm a little more worried about whether or not I can connect it at all. Second is the connector from the panel and the third is the connectors the manual says to use.

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Sorry about the pic quality it's the best I could get.

Trotter · 02-23-2009, 01:14 AM

Post up what mobo it is, as well as what the case is. We've got enough modders on here that should be able to figure out the best solution for it.

Dakaggo · 02-23-2009, 01:56 AM

Here this is the same motherboard:

MSI K8N Neo3-F Socket 754 Motherboard (MS-7135 Ver - eBay (item 190285157002 end time Feb-09-09 15:28:19 PST)

The case is for an old Dell XPS 5233.

oldskool · 02-23-2009, 08:03 AM

Dell tends to be very proprietary, might not be a match (plug to mobo interface indicated by board manual) but I could be wrong.

Dakaggo · 02-23-2009, 01:28 PM

I thought as much. Is there any way to alter it or can I get some sort of adapter? I'd really like to get this working.

philbar71 · 02-23-2009, 01:54 PM

i assume that is for the fromt panel (where the powerbutton is) to turn it on all you neeed to do is find the jumpers that turn the mobo on and short them out.

Dakaggo · 02-23-2009, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by philbar71

i assume that is for the fromt panel (where the powerbutton is) to turn it on all you neeed to do is find the jumpers that turn the mobo on and short them out.

I'm going to sound like an idiot but... what? Is there any way you can explain that in a way that would make more sense to me? I mean I kind of get it but what do you mean by short them out? Where would I find said jumpers? What do they look like..?

Also is there anyway doing this would allow me to turn the computer on from the front? It's for my friend, he's not going to open the case every time he turns his computer on.

kmote · 02-23-2009, 04:59 PM

The switches on the front panel are just completing a circuit. You can switch the computer on by completing this circuit in any way you like. Read the motherboard manual to locate the front panel connectors on the motherboard and, more specifically, the power switch header. All you have to do then is briefly connect the two pins of the header and the computer will start up.
TBH though I'm not 100% sure that is the front panel connector, what other things do you have on the front of the case? Picture?

Atech66 · 02-23-2009, 05:05 PM

I ran into something similar once and spliced the old connector onto the new wire.
I dont know if thats a viable option in your case.

oldskool · 02-23-2009, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmote

All you have to do then is briefly connect the two pins of the header and the computer will start up.

I wanted to address this part of kmote's post....

Specifically:

1) You need to touch these two leads as he indicated by using something like a screwdriver (it works).

2) You also need to have the unit plugged in and turned on of course. It will start the computer up without a swich being pushed. All this does is bypass the switch on the case to start up your computer.

On ATX mobos (almost all the ones made in the last several years) the switch on the case sends a signal to the mobo which tells the CPU which tells the PSU to "turn me on, baby ! "

By doing the above, you are essentially bypassing that switch.

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