Need help with power on/off switch and led light for dell dimension 3000

[getufit]

hello all,

new to the forum...

i replaced my aging dell dimension 3000 motherboard today and transferred everything over perfectly with one major exception... the power switch cable is too short and doesn't have the correct connector type (16-pin) for my biostar P4M900-M4.

can anyone offer a suggestion on how i can keep my case and change the power switch cable/connector to correct the problem????

TIA,

m

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

There is information which I believe to be relevant to your situation here.

 

[getufit]

thank you so much...i've read the page but i'm unsure what cable to use and where to get a 16-pin connector that matches that on the biostar board...

i need two cables for power on/off, 2 for hdled, 2 for pwr led and (i think) 2 for the speaker....

suggestions?

TIA

 

[vnf4ultra]

You can either cut the dell motherboard connector off the cable and solder/crimp the appropriate connectors(and the additional cable length) if possible or replace the button and/or leds with new ones. I'd scavenge the parts like the motherboard connectors and/or the button/leds from a junked atx style pc.

If you're reusing the dell button and leds and are unsure which of the wires are which, you can possibly trace them from the connector to the panel to see which they are. If you can't easily trace them (i.e. power button/leds on a circuit board) then for the power button you can use a multimeter to determine the power switch wires by checking the resistance between different pins with the button pressed, eventually you'll find the power button (low resistance) pins by trial and error. It's especially easy with one of the multimeters that "beep" when there is continuity between leads. If you find the led wires, but are confused by led polarity, take a look at the led itself to determine polarity. Here's a picture, it shows how to determine led polarity visually (you can ignore the front panel diagram in the picture).
LED Polarity