How to determine control panel connector components?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Peterson
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John Peterson

Hello all!

I've got an old Dell Dimension XPS Pro200n MT box that I'm trying to upgrade with a new
motherboard. The original motherboard has a ribbon cable from the case panel for control
panel connector. I would think that I'd need to "break this out" somehow -- but I can't
find any documentation on which pins are which. Here's the closest I can find from dell:

http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/dta/XPSP200n/00000005.htm#Connectors and Sockets

(It's for that J10E1 jumper block.)

Can someone point me in the right direction? Also, can you explain how I might be able to
go about splitting the ribbon cable into the appropriate wires and connector ends? Is
this something that's even easy to do?

Thanks!

John Peterson
 
John Peterson said:
Hello all!

I've got an old Dell Dimension XPS Pro200n MT box that I'm trying to upgrade with a new
motherboard. The original motherboard has a ribbon cable from the case panel for control
panel connector. I would think that I'd need to "break this out" somehow -- but I can't
find any documentation on which pins are which. Here's the closest I can find from dell:

http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/dta/XPSP200n/00000005.htm#Connectors and So
ckets

(It's for that J10E1 jumper block.)

Can someone point me in the right direction? Also, can you explain how I might be able to
go about splitting the ribbon cable into the appropriate wires and connector ends? Is
this something that's even easy to do?

Thanks!

John Peterson
Click to expand...


It would probably be best to move everything to a new case.


bluestringer
 
I have no idea how the ribbon cable is wired.

At the risk of being negative, you may also wish to note the nonstandard
power connections. (Dell used a separate 3.3V power connector, in addition
to the normal ATX connector.) It's also only a 200W supply.

The holes in the case may also be different than for industry-standard
mainboards, although I see that it has two serial ports (unlike some of
their newer machines).

In my opinion, Dell deliberately made mainboard swaps just hard enough to be
more trouble than they would be worth to most people. (That's not the same
as impossible, but what's your time worth?) I suppose from Dell's point of
view, they never want to be presented with a system for service that no
longer is a Dell inside.

Good luck.

Bob Knowlden

Address may be altered to avoid spam. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
Thanks, Bob!

Yeah...I was doing some Google searches, and that's sort of the same consensus I was
arriving. Particularly with this article:

http://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=7

Almost sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth. I guess I'll just spring for a
decent ATX case and be done with it. ;-) (Speaking of which, do you have any
recommendations?)

Thanks again!

John Peterson
 
Case recommendations?

I'm currently using an Impression IM-21 case, mid-tower. It's steel
(surprisingly heavy), with no windows or lights. (It does have an
excessively bright blue power LED, though, so it's not *completely* uncool.)
I got it mainly because I liked its lay-out: it has a space in the front for
a 120 mm fan, that blows air over the hard drives as it enters the case. It
cost about $50 US, without power supply, which means it was not particularly
cheap. Google will turn up a review or two of it.

Antech cases (usually including Antech power supplies) have favorable
reputations, as do those from Thermaltake. (Some of these are made by
Chenming, or some such firm from Taiwan. I think CompUSA sells some Chenming
cases under their own label as well. Most of these look usable, although I
regret that mainboard trays are rare now.)

If you want a Dell-like case, if only for nostalgia, I believe that Dell
bought (custom) cases from Palo Alto in the past. (I've never seen them at
retail.) They had good air flow, keeping the drives cool with just the power
supply fan and one additional one (mainly for the CPU).

Have fun.

Bob Kn.
 
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