A7N8X V2 Deluxe MB and Atec P160 Case Front Panel Connection

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bryan
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Bryan

Hello

I have tried without success to connect the Antec P160 case front panel
single firewire and dual usb 2 connectors to my Asus A7N8X V2 Deluxe
motherboard. Has anyone managed to get over this problem?

USB Connections as identified on page 31 on the Asus motherboard manual as
follows.
pin 1 USB +5V USB +5V
USB_P5- USB_P6-
USB_P5+ USB_P6+
GND GND
No Pin NC

The Antec case comes with one connector for each USB

The front panel IEEE 1394 has different connections to the 8-pin 1394 HEAD
connector fitted to the Asus Motherboard as identified on page 31 as
follows.
pin1 Ground
Ground
TPA2+
TPA2-
TPB2+
TPB2-
Ground
+12V

I have seen on a USA web site a SYBA PCI USB 2.0 & 1394a combo card Model
SD-COMBO-02 which has internal connections which will enable me to connect
to the two USB 2 connectors but nothing for the firewire. Unfortunately you
cannot buy this card in the UK. Has anyone managed to get a different card
to work that is available in the UK?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Regards

Bryan
 
"Bryan" said:
Hello

I have tried without success to connect the Antec P160 case front panel
single firewire and dual usb 2 connectors to my Asus A7N8X V2 Deluxe
motherboard. Has anyone managed to get over this problem?

USB Connections as identified on page 31 on the Asus motherboard manual as
follows.
pin 1 USB +5V USB +5V
USB_P5- USB_P6-
USB_P5+ USB_P6+
GND GND
No Pin NC

The Antec case comes with one connector for each USB

The front panel IEEE 1394 has different connections to the 8-pin 1394 HEAD
connector fitted to the Asus Motherboard as identified on page 31 as
follows.
pin1 Ground
Ground
TPA2+
TPA2-
TPB2+
TPB2-
Ground
+12V

I have seen on a USA web site a SYBA PCI USB 2.0 & 1394a combo card Model
SD-COMBO-02 which has internal connections which will enable me to connect
to the two USB 2 connectors but nothing for the firewire. Unfortunately you
cannot buy this card in the UK. Has anyone managed to get a different card
to work that is available in the UK?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Regards

Bryan
Click to expand...

My experience with a couple of Antec cases, is watch out for the
design of the front panel connectors.

On one of them, the +/- TPA and TPB signals on the Firewire are
reversed. It pays to have a cheap multimeter, set to ohms, so that
you can buzz from the mobo cable end, to the pins inside the front
panel connector, to verify that the wires are what they should be.

With USB, frequently the issue is that the Antec front panel circuit
board only supports USB 1.1 data rates, instead of USB2. (Newer
Antec cases will have the word "USB2" silk screened onto the assembly,
basically telling you it is fixed. For older cases, you could contact
Antec tech support and get a new USB2 ready assembly, which
I hope will not be necessary in your case. Probably the vast
majority of old Antec cases had the USB 1.1 only assembly in them,
and only a small percentage of users got it fixed. Antec knew
about the USB 1.1 only issue, but insisted on continuing to
ship the USB 1.1 only equipped cases.)

My A7N8X-E product box contained a PCI bracket with two Firewire
connectors, and a PCI bracket with two USB connectors. If the
cable on those is long enough, you might consider popping the
PCI bracket into a drive bay in the front of the computer. You
could modify one of those snap-in plastic drive bay bezels,
such that the connectors in question protruded. By using the
provided adapters that came with your Asus product, you stand
a better chance of getting this stuff to work properly. (For
best static discharge protection, it would be nice if the PCI
bracket metal was in contact with the computer case, and using
a plastic bezel won't make that easy.)

So far, I haven't read of any accounts of Antec front panel
wiring reversing power connections. Your motherboard headers
should still be in working condition, and testing with the
PCI bracket adapters will tell you if they are still OK or
not. If your testing reveals they are non-functional, then
consider a replacement PCI card.

Here is another kind of product you could consider. It is a
drive bay adapter plus a PCI card. Since all the materials
are provided, you don't need to touch your Antec USB or
Firewire wiring. I think this is available with beige or
black plastic, with two different model numbers.

http://www.koutech.com/proddetail.asp?linenumber=102

(Review comments)
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/FeedBack/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16815104221

Paul
 
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