sinjin

was bored today so i stopped in my local computer shop. thought it was my lucky day when loe and behold there lies a table full of cases w/ power supplies marked down for a clearance sale. i ended up buying some generic aluminum midsized tower with a dark plastic face plate that covers the floppy drive bay and the power/reset buttons.

while there...had to pick up a new mobo (a7v333) and some samsung 2700 ddr ram so i could toss something into my spiffy looking cheap assed case.

once home, began the process of tearing through boxes and closets looking for spare hdd's, cdr's, a cpu, hsf, cables, etc etc. and deciding what to take out of my older rigs to use in this one and vice versa. whew.

let me skip ahead to the problem.

it doesnt power up.

now i'm pretty sure that i've hooked up the power button's leads incorrectly to the mobo...you see there arent any markings on them like "reset sw" or "power led" or even a "+5" or "-5"...squat.

now i'm sure some of you are thinking...why not just trace back and see where the wires originate from? i can't. the face plate doesnt come off and from the inside there is an unmovable drive rack of sorts with a backing. cant see a thing thats going on back there.

this case doesnt have any distinguishable markings, numbers, or names to identify it. i've looked.

think this case is designed for a pentium rig to reside in it...i had to do some creative clipping in the back to fit the asus mobo's serial/sound/usb ports...so i was wondering.....would that even make a difference?

its probably just me and those damned power/reset button leads.

wish i could find a picture or instructions that dont require a degree in electrical engineering to understand. this shouldnt be a big deal...i've replaced my old asus mobo dozens of times....but for some reason i cant handle the wiring in this one.

help.

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sinjin

thought i'd toss up a couple pics so you can get an idea of my power button nightmare.





nice polka dots!

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digitalwanderer

Do you mean you're having a hard time figuring out which wires go to the power switch or are you having trouble figuring out where to attach the power lead on the mobo side?

EDITED BITS: Never mind, you explained it well enough my brain just ain't working quickly enough. You need to figure out which lead is which from the power-supply, you know where it goes on the mobo...right?


If that's the case, could you take a picture of the leads you have to pick from? (Cute kitty, BTW. )

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WTF is up with the sigs?

sinjin

thanks for the response dig.

it isnt the lead from the power supply...its the leads from the power button that connect to the mobo...

i'll try and isolate them for a piccy.

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digitalwanderer

Got it, them little two wire jobs with the black rectangular leads..right?

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WTF is up with the sigs?

sinjin

these i have a handle on...the 2 red/white/green 3n1 wires should be for the front panel usb ports....the red/black one should be for the little pc speaker in there...and why i have that audio connector coming out from there i havent a clue.



in the 2nd pic...there is a set of green/black twisted wires, an orange/white twisted pair, a green/white pair, and black/white pair. i'm pretty sure that the black/white pair is connected to the reset button. the other 3 i havent a clue....i think the green/white is the power led.



in the 3rd pic...these two are coming out of the power supply directly. no idea. there isnt anything on my mobo that i could even force those connectors into.



anyone want a polka-dotted case? interesting trades accepted.

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generalstupid

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! you bought an at case, those connectors are for an OOOOOOLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDD motherboard. You can plug those in on the motherboard (Unless it's an AT mobo) anyway, just take back your case and ask for an ATX

generalstupid

atx power supply would work to, so if you want to keep the case, just get a new PS

sinjin

uh oh. the power supply is a codegen 300w and in small print it says "ATX 2.03 P4"

i still believe i can use the ps...its the connections from the power and reset buttons i'm having trouble with.

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digitalwanderer

Well, if it looks like this one here I'd guess the orange one is your PS-ON.


EDITED BITS: BTW-I have the same two connectors on both of my ennermax PSs and I'm not sure about 'em either. I think one of them is a 12v connector for hooking up a cigarrette lighter...

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WTF is up with the sigs?

sinjin

"Recommended up to 1.3Ghz. Not intended for heavy duty usage i.e. multiple drives, and extra peripheral cards."

doh.

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digitalwanderer

Look at the brightside, at least now you know.

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WTF is up with the sigs?

Alan Allen

Agree.....

He has an AT case and AT/ATX power supply. He is trying to use it with an ATX motherboard. He even said he had to alter the back of the case to get the motherboard to fit in.

Even with the AT/ATX Power Supply that he has, the Power Button on the case will not work correctly.

If you have a real ATX case nearby, just have a look at the diffrence in the actual power button switches. Entirely diffrent! That's because the ATX switch works the reset function on an ATX board (the little reset button on the front of your AT case does nothing with an ATX board!

He either needs to get an ATX power button or he needs to trash the cheap assed case and get a real ATX case.

Also, for that Motherboard and what he plans to do with it I am positive that the cheap power supply will not work.

Sorry to say, the bargain case is not the bargain he thought it was.

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[COLOR=lightblue] [SIZE=small]Alan Edward Allen[/COLOR] [/SIZE]
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merry

USB connectors on an AT case? Hardly, if ever.

AT cases also usually have a speed indicator, 2-3 digits, on the front. Also, not always, a turbo button.

The two connectors on the PS are - I think - for P4 mobos, so don't worry about them.

The power button on an AT case is with 'retention' (ie remains pushed), but that's not always obvious. It doesn't work with AT (edit: ATX, sorry) mobos, which need a reset style switch for the power control, that is a 'pushbutton'. My memory could fail me, but I think this AT power button was connected directly to the AT PS, and it switched the mains voltage (120...220 AC V), so it would have a thick wire pair attached to it.

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Alan Allen

Who said anything about USB connectors on the case?????

No ONE !

His original post stated that he had to cut the back of the case to get the ATX board to fit (including USB Ports on the Motherboard.....NOT the case).

I think you meant to say that the AT switch would not work with an ATX board (you said AT). This is exactly what I said!

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[COLOR=lightblue] [SIZE=small]Alan Edward Allen[/COLOR] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=xsmall] [COLOR=yellow]AMD Athlon T-Bird 1.4Ghz 266fsb (AIR COOLED MC-462A), Gigabyte GA-7DXR - Microsoft Windows Me
Micron 512Meg PC2100 DDR 16-8-8-2-6-2-2 @ 2.7v, IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40Gb (x2), Setup as RAID 0
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merry

OK, opened an old AT 486. There's only one red/white/green/black from the front to the mobo, for LEDs. No reset, no speed/turbo stuff.

The power button is connected to the PS, and the wires come from the PS, so you definitely have an ATX case.

On the front of your case you have two LEDs (power & hdd), two pushbuttons (power & reset) and there's possibly a speaker. This makes for 5 pairs (there seems to be a red/black you didn't mention).

The speaker should be connected on a three pin connector, so you can sort this out quickly.

The only one you actually need to start the comp is the power on. So...

First look at your other cases, there may be some sort of color code. Check especially the power buttons.

If you can't find a rule, but have an ohmmeter, check the resistance between the ends of each connector - where you find open, press the power button and measure again (with the button pressed), if there's a short, you got it.

If you still have no clue, assemble the comp - minimally you should only need case/ps and mobo; connect atx power to the mobo, don't connect the front wires to the mobo. Power up (back side switch on the ps). Connect one pair to the ps connector (check with your mobo manual).

If the ps fan starts at this point, stop the ps (back switch), you probably found the speaker.

If the ps fan does nothing, press the power switch, if the ps fan starts - that's it. If not, press the reset switch, if the fan starts, you found the reset switch.

Repeat until you find the power switch.

There shouldn't be any risk for the mobo: whatever circuit drives the power switch connector on the mobo, it should withstand a shortcircuit as load, because this is precisely what the power switch does. So, connecting a lesser load (LED or speaker), shouldn't harm the mobo... however, you could damage the speaker or LEDs! (although I find this unlikely, I never tried myself to connect a LED instead of the power sw).

(edit) Hm, looks like I got something wrong, if I understand Alan well (see below), so better forget it. Wish I could try this myself though

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merry

Yes, I meant ATX, I was just going to edit that.

As for the USB, check his second post with pictures, it's right at the begining:

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There is a war between the ones who say there is a war
and the ones who say there isn't.
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Alan Allen

I give up!

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[COLOR=lightblue] [SIZE=small]Alan Edward Allen[/COLOR] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=xsmall] [COLOR=yellow]AMD Athlon T-Bird 1.4Ghz 266fsb (AIR COOLED MC-462A), Gigabyte GA-7DXR - Microsoft Windows Me
Micron 512Meg PC2100 DDR 16-8-8-2-6-2-2 @ 2.7v, IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40Gb (x2), Setup as RAID 0
ASUS V8200 Deluxe GeForce3 - nVidia 40.71's [/SIZE] [/COLOR]

skastel

Thoose look like P4 MB power connectors.

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generalstupid

really? wow, from that angle the part that connects to the motherboard for power looks ALOT like AT... but if it says ATX, then it must be and thus you can use it.

sinjin

there is 5 pair. figured out that the orange/white is the hdd led, the red/black is speaker, green/white is power led, black/white is reset...so the only one left is black/green...that must be the power switch. only i still can't power up.

its not 3 pin...its a twisted red/black pair...only reason i know this is because its the only one i can see where it originates from.

thanks for the help. i havent given up yet.

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reno

The big long connector is the AUX power connector for P4 systems (must use mine on my mobo) and the small four pronged square one is the +5v extra connector...again for P4s.

Yeah, ATX uses momentary contact of the jumpers to start the PC. If there is constant contact it will never ever never ever start...ever. It needs to be a quick "tick" and then the button MUSt reset back into it's normal spot.

Find the jumpers for power on on your mobo and take a knife (how I start my 233mmx now...because it sits in a cabinet) to the two jumpers...VERY quickly...leave it too long and it won't start, but if you do it right you've "jumpstarted" or "hot-wired" your mobo...hehe

sinjin

thanks reno...i remember reading about that trick from some distributed computing guy who had a huge folding farm.

UPDATE: i have power to the mobo, i can turn it on/off with the front switch....but i can't post.

rid of everything but my 2 disk array, nic card, pci vid, and hsf on my power suppy. cleared the cmos. still no post.

perhaps the 300w codegen ps isnt going to cut the mustard.

but the case is a beaut!

edited to add....picked up a new 400w antec...seems to do the trick. thanks to all who contributed along this fruitful journey.

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merry

I don't know about Athlons - my p3 works fine with 300 W ps, 7200 rpm hdd and cd r/w besides sig.

The reset switch can be used instead of the power on - if you accept to push reset to power on lol. Anyway, glad to hear you sorted it out, sinjin.

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There is a war between the ones who say there is a war
and the ones who say there isn't.
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WyreTheWolf

The Pentium III doesn't require the amount of power that an Athlon does. 300 is BARE minimum for Athlons.

reno

One of our dell servers that we goofed around with in my cisco class was a 733mhz P3 with a gig of ram and four harddrives...175 watt power supply and it ran just fine. Plus it wasn't too loud (about an 80 pound case...with shock absorbers!) hehe

vk2amv

300Watt is NOT the bare minimum for athlons. That is a VERY common misconseption. 300Watt is the best starting point but it is far from the bare minumum. I am currently (and have been since august 2001) running a Athlon Thunderbird 1.4Gig with Asus A7V133-c 40x CD Drive & 12x SCSI Burner 2 7200RPM drives network card SCSI card sound and TNT2 AGP on a 230Watt ATX power supply. And it runs 100% reliable 20-24hours a day 7 days a week. And the power supply works perfectly fine in 35 degree centigrade room temp. Though a little warm but not to danger point. (And yes I am 100% serious about the room tempreture because that is a low summer temp here is Oz)
AREA_51

EDIT: BTW those 2 plugs in one of the photos are NOT AT style plugs. One of them looks like an AT plug and the other is a 4 pin plug. That is correct. But they are realy ATX 12+ standard plugs. They are needed for some P4 systems. They are a fairly new standard. Maybe 2-3 years old. I am not sure exactly. All new power supplies should have these 2 plugs in addition to the standard 15 pin(is it 15 pin or more?) ATX plug. Way newer than AT.