Motherboard connectors

[tmort]

Things are pretty tight and hard to see, but I think my new motherboard
requires different connectors than those that are on my IBM Netvista
case.

I have a Biostare system board. I find that the:

Audio in from the CD ROM connector has four holes but the connector is
thicker than the motherboard will accept

The connectors going to the front USB ports are different on the
motherboard and the IBM case

The distance between the rows of holes on the front panel On/Off switch
are different than the pins on the motherboard.

Do I just need smaller hands and better glasses or could this be the
case. If so are there adapters?

Thanks

 

[Rod Speed]

Things are pretty tight and hard to see, but I think
my new motherboard requires different connectors
than those that are on my IBM Netvista case.

I have a Biostare system board. I find that the:

Audio in from the CD ROM connector has four holes but
the connector is thicker than the motherboard will accept

You dont need that at all anymore.

The connectors going to the front USB ports are
different on the motherboard and the IBM case

Very likely, the better ones have individual
wires with individual sockets on each wire.

The distance between the rows of holes on the front panel
On/Off switch are different than the pins on the motherboard.

Again, same as with the front USB ports.

Do I just need smaller hands and better glasses
Nope.

or could this be the case.

Yes, its very likely with a branded system like the Netvista.

If so are there adapters?

Nope. You could just get a new case.

 

[visions of effty]

Things are pretty tight and hard to see, but I think my new motherboard
requires different connectors than those that are on my IBM Netvista
case.

I have a Biostare system board. I find that the:

Audio in from the CD ROM connector has four holes but the connector is
thicker than the motherboard will accept

The connectors going to the front USB ports are different on the
motherboard and the IBM case

The distance between the rows of holes on the front panel On/Off switch
are different than the pins on the motherboard.

Do I just need smaller hands and better glasses or could this be the
case. If so are there adapters?

Thanks

This isn't probably what you want to hear. If I'm in a fix, I usually use a
razor blade!

There really aren't many standards to those front panel connectors.

A lot of cases nowadays ship with each seperate wire in it's own little
black "nub" for that reason. So you can mix them into the appropriate block
of four (or whatever) for your motherboard.

Its usually not a problem for the power switches and such. Those are pretty
standard. Where you run into problems is (like you said) the USB headers
and the audio headers.

What I do is carefully cut the black plastic into pieces with a very sharp
razor (not all at once, a few cuts), get the pieces to spec (like flat, and
square, wires in the right order), then "reassemble" it with scotch tape.

FWIW, you probably won't need the audio out on your CD-ROM. That's kind of
an outdated thing on those.

If you have old cases or computers, save those wires! If you have the right
end piece you can just splice the wires!

I hope this helps. I know it sounds ghetto.

Good luck!

~e.

 

[Paul]

Things are pretty tight and hard to see, but I think my new motherboard
requires different connectors than those that are on my IBM Netvista
case.

I have a Biostare system board. I find that the:

Audio in from the CD ROM connector has four holes but the connector is
thicker than the motherboard will accept

The connectors going to the front USB ports are different on the
motherboard and the IBM case

The distance between the rows of holes on the front panel On/Off switch
are different than the pins on the motherboard.

Do I just need smaller hands and better glasses or could this be the
case. If so are there adapters?

Thanks

If a connector pin spacing is different, sometimes it is
possible to pull the wire and pin out of one hole, and
place it back into another hole. This page shows how to
pry up the tab on the connector shell, so that the wire
and pin can be extracted. If the shell is still too wide
to fit, you can always trim it down, being careful not
to damage the "cells" where the wire+pin lives.

http://frontx.com/head_con.html

The frontx site also has replacement plastic shells and
crimpable pins, and you can get enough stuff from them,
to "reterminate" at least some of your wire assemblies.
Electronics stores are another source of materials, and
I only have one store in town that actually carries
enough variety to solve a problem like this.

http://frontx.com/order_c.html

Paul

 

[kony]

This isn't probably what you want to hear. If I'm in a fix, I usually use a
razor blade!

There really aren't many standards to those front panel connectors.

True, there's aren't many standards, that's what standards
are meant to avoid. There is now one most predominant front
audio standard and one USB, formerly two USB if you count
the reversed orientation USB pinout in addition to the
pin-10 unused/pin 9 key standard.

The most common reason OEMs avoid adhering to them is that
they want to integrate more wires into fewer connectors.

A lot of cases nowadays ship with each seperate wire in it's own little
black "nub" for that reason. So you can mix them into the appropriate block
of four (or whatever) for your motherboard.

Its usually not a problem for the power switches and such. Those are pretty
standard. Where you run into problems is (like you said) the USB headers
and the audio headers.

What I do is carefully cut the black plastic into pieces with a very sharp
razor (not all at once, a few cuts), get the pieces to spec (like flat, and
square, wires in the right order), then "reassemble" it with scotch tape.

That's not often necessary, usually you can just pry up the
lock-tab on the socket inserts to pull them out and
rearrange as needed in the proper corresponding socket
position as shown in the motherboard manual.

FWIW, you probably won't need the audio out on your CD-ROM. That's kind of
an outdated thing on those.

If you have old cases or computers, save those wires! If you have the right
end piece you can just splice the wires!

No need to splice in most cases, rather leave the wires
whole and just use the plastic socket as needed.

I hope this helps. I know it sounds ghetto.

It's rare to have to solder or splice front panel wires,
especially if there's a mom-n-pop computer shop nearby you
can just pull the old front panel harness out of some box
going into the trash, providing it uses same size LEDs and
switches you dont' even have to change those out.

 

[visions of effty]

On Sat, 02 Sep 2006 06:53:42 GMT, "visions of effty"


That's not often necessary, usually you can just pry up the
lock-tab on the socket inserts to pull them out and
rearrange as needed in the proper corresponding socket
position as shown in the motherboard manual.

Yeah. Sometimes you get lucky and get the pry apart kind. Seems like
mostly on older cases. I think those are going out of style too.

It's rare to have to solder or splice front panel wires,
especially if there's a mom-n-pop computer shop nearby you
can just pull the old front panel harness out of some box
going into the trash, providing it uses same size LEDs and
switches you dont' even have to change those out.

I seldom have problems with LEDs and switches, which is a shame as those (a
lot of times) just pop right out. The tricky stuff comes when manufactuers
want to dress up the front panel or rivet things in place.

I think the ultimate solution would be if motherboard manufacturers made an
optional front panel box that would fit in any empty optical drive bay. I
guess I don't see the wisdom (aside from power and LEDs) of making that a
part of the "case" component. In addition that would save you from having
to wrangle with the plugs which are often "hidden" at the very bottom of
your typical PC tower. That drives me nuts when they try to hide the plugs
at the very bottom, or stick them behind a little plastic door. That's just
bad design IMO.

Just a thought.

~e.

 

[kony]

Yeah. Sometimes you get lucky and get the pry apart kind. Seems like
mostly on older cases. I think those are going out of style too.

Most are the type I am referring to, but I don't know if you
understand what I mean. They're like the socket in this
picture, http://estore.asus.com/images/14-000014000.JPG

Some (evermore of them going backwards in time) OEMs have
used ribbon cables (except now for USB2 and some audio) and
insulation displacement connectors like this,
http://www.action-electronics.com/grc/ppids.jpg
and were able to do so because their volume was large enough
to pursuade the motherboard manufacturer to reroute traces
to accomdate the more integrated connector block.

I seldom have problems with LEDs and switches, which is a shame as those (a
lot of times) just pop right out. The tricky stuff comes when manufactuers
want to dress up the front panel or rivet things in place.

I think the ultimate solution would be if motherboard manufacturers made an
optional front panel box that would fit in any empty optical drive bay.

Some have, like Asus. I bought a couple but overall they
didn't seem to sell very well even thought the boards were
fairly popular for their era. They were nice, had USB,
audio, a SMBus link and displayed fan RPM, post codes too.
The ergonomics of the buttons were poor as was the LED
display (was inset so the viewable angle was reduced), but
overall these things weren't so obvious until trying to use
it, at the time there just wasn't enough interest to
encourage Asus to pursue it any further.

I
guess I don't see the wisdom (aside from power and LEDs) of making that a
part of the "case" component. In addition that would save you from having
to wrangle with the plugs which are often "hidden" at the very bottom of
your typical PC tower. That drives me nuts when they try to hide the plugs
at the very bottom, or stick them behind a little plastic door. That's just
bad design IMO.

I think they assume everyone will have their system on the
desk right next to their monitor, and if it were, I might
prefer the audio and USB on the bottom front IF it weren't
for liking cases to retain the option of having a large
front intake and possibly fan there which might conflict
with the wire routing if they didn't take it into account.

The problem is everyone might like their ports in a
different place. Some seem to think the side of the bezel
is good but I've never wanted them there. I seldom use the
front ports on a case for anything but a temporary
connection though, the case gets shoved out of the way and I
have a BOB (break out box) for audio video and a hub on the
desk for USB.

 

[tmort]

If a connector pin spacing is different, sometimes it is
possible to pull the wire and pin out of one hole, and
place it back into another hole. This page shows how to
pry up the tab on the connector shell, so that the wire
and pin can be extracted. If the shell is still too wide
to fit, you can always trim it down, being careful not
to damage the "cells" where the wire+pin lives.

http://frontx.com/head_con.html

The frontx site also has replacement plastic shells and
crimpable pins, and you can get enough stuff from them,
to "reterminate" at least some of your wire assemblies.
Electronics stores are another source of materials, and
I only have one store in town that actually carries
enough variety to solve a problem like this.

http://frontx.com/order_c.html

Paul

I was able to get some connectors that I have to cut down from a local
electronics recycling center. The two front panel USB ports were US B
1 and proprietary. I ordered the same part from a newer model that has
USB 2. This connector is the right size but the pin layout is sort of
a mirror image???

 

[Paul]

I was able to get some connectors that I have to cut down from a local
electronics recycling center. The two front panel USB ports were US B
1 and proprietary. I ordered the same part from a newer model that has
USB 2. This connector is the right size but the pin layout is sort of
a mirror image???

What does that mean exactly ? What is mirrored there ?
There are some pictures here.

http://www.hardware-bastelkiste.de/index.html?usb.html

Paul

 

[kony]

I was able to get some connectors that I have to cut down from a local
electronics recycling center. The two front panel USB ports were US B
1 and proprietary. I ordered the same part from a newer model that has
USB 2. This connector is the right size but the pin layout is sort of
a mirror image???

yes, there was a semi-standard arranement like this where
you could flip over the connector and it'd still work, just
reverse which port was #1 or #2. Now most often a key pin
and empty position are used, along with a connector block
with a blocked hole in it for this keying. You'd need to
switch the wire positions around so they're compatible.

 

[TomM]

yes, there was a semi-standard arranement like this where
you could flip over the connector and it'd still work, just
reverse which port was #1 or #2. Now most often a key pin
and empty position are used, along with a connector block
with a blocked hole in it for this keying. You'd need to
switch the wire positions around so they're compatible.

 

[Searcher7]

I'd like to do some custom work(splicing, crimping, ect.) with some
cables and connectors.

For instance, with the standard IDE cable, the individual wires that
make up this cable are too small for my purposes. So can anyone tell me
where I can get female IDE connectors and whatever else I'll need to
attach my own (18g to 22g)wires to each(40) pin?

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
*****************************************************************************************************

 

[kony]

I'd like to do some custom work(splicing, crimping, ect.) with some
cables and connectors.

For instance, with the standard IDE cable, the individual wires that
make up this cable are too small for my purposes. So can anyone tell me
where I can get female IDE connectors and whatever else I'll need to
attach my own (18g to 22g)wires to each(40) pin?

They are fairly standard electrical/electronics parts,
typical multi-pin sockets with the following properties,

IDC (insulation displacement connector)
0.1" pin spacing
2 x 20 row/columns

However, I don't recall seeing any that were not insulation
displacement type, so that type would only use the same wire
gauge and it would be a PITA to use single strands instead
of connected in ribbon configuration.

Regardless, the usual sources would be electronics supply
houses like http://Digikey.com , http://mouser.com ,
http://alliedelec.com

occasionally you can find such parts at lower prices at the
various surplus sites like http://www.bgmicro.com/ ,
http://www.allelectronics.com/ ,
http://sales.goldmine-elec.com/Index.asp ,
http://www.excesssolutions.com/

but it's hit-or-miss whether the surplus 'sites have what
you need at any moment, their stock is not constant on many
items.

As for what particular properties you need to specify or
search for, it'll depend on exactly what you're trying to
do, if such product(s) exist at all.

If your wires are too big you may need to get a connector
that attaches to a circuit board, and attach the wires to
this circuit board, essentially spacing out the distance
between each wire more to accomodate the larger wire size.
I don't know of any such circuit boards though, you'd have
to fabricate your own which isn't terribly hard if you're
accustomed to doing such things but a fair learning curve
and trial-n-error process if not.

 

[Searcher7]

They are fairly standard electrical/electronics parts,
typical multi-pin sockets with the following properties,

IDC (insulation displacement connector)
0.1" pin spacing
2 x 20 row/columns

However, I don't recall seeing any that were not insulation
displacement type, so that type would only use the same wire
gauge and it would be a PITA to use single strands instead
of connected in ribbon configuration.

Regardless, the usual sources would be electronics supply
houses like http://Digikey.com , http://mouser.com ,
http://alliedelec.com

occasionally you can find such parts at lower prices at the
various surplus sites like http://www.bgmicro.com/ ,
http://www.allelectronics.com/ ,
http://sales.goldmine-elec.com/Index.asp ,
http://www.excesssolutions.com/

but it's hit-or-miss whether the surplus 'sites have what
you need at any moment, their stock is not constant on many
items.

As for what particular properties you need to specify or
search for, it'll depend on exactly what you're trying to
do, if such product(s) exist at all.

If your wires are too big you may need to get a connector
that attaches to a circuit board, and attach the wires to
this circuit board, essentially spacing out the distance
between each wire more to accomodate the larger wire size.
I don't know of any such circuit boards though, you'd have
to fabricate your own which isn't terribly hard if you're
accustomed to doing such things but a fair learning curve
and trial-n-error process if not.

Thanks.

With this particular project, I have some circuit boards that have on
them IDE connectors(male pins).

There is not enough distance between connectors on the standard IDE
cables I have, and the individual wires are too small anyway. So
pulling them apart and splicing to them would be a pain. I'd rather
have longer and thicker wires starting at the connector itself, and
I've been trying to figure out the best way to do this.

Thanks again.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.