Front panel headers

Hi group

I am new to this group, and new to working on computers.

I am replacing my mobo(P4VM800) and processor, and I have a question
relating to the colour coding of the front panel header connections.
I believe that these are a standard.

I have
green & white power led 3 pin mobo has 2 pins ????????????? how do I get
out of that?
black & white switch 2 pin Can I assume that white is gnd?
red & white hdd led 2 pin Can I assume that red is positive?
purple & white reset switch 2 pin Can I assume that white is gnd?


Thanks in advance to all those that take the time to give helpful advice.

David

medico wrote:
> Hi group
>
> I am new to this group, and new to working on computers.
>
> I am replacing my mobo(P4VM800) and processor, and I have a question
> relating to the colour coding of the front panel header connections.
> I believe that these are a standard.
>
> I have
> green & white power led 3 pin mobo has 2 pins ????????????? how do I get
> out of that?
> black & white switch 2 pin Can I assume that white is gnd?
> red & white hdd led 2 pin Can I assume that red is positive?
> purple & white reset switch 2 pin Can I assume that white is gnd?
>
> Thanks in advance to all those that take the time to give helpful advice.
>
> David

If you scroll to the bottom of this page, it shows how to back the wire
and crimp pin, out of its plastic housing. By repositioning the pin with
the desired spacing, then you can plug it in. I use an Xacto knife (hobby
knife) with a long pointed tip, to gently ease the tab out just
enough, so the wire and crimp pin can be pulled out. Bending the tab
too much, could ruin it. (If the plastic body can hang over the end,
then you won't need to butcher it.)

http://www.frontx.com/head_con.html

The reset and power switch are not polarized, and neither do the wires
contact ground. That allows the colors to be installed either way, and
it will still work. It is up to the motherboard's PANEL header, to decide
where the ground goes, not the switch end. The switch body and contacts
should be floating.

The LEDs are polarized, and can be installed the wrong way without
harm. Just reverse them and try again. Garden variety LEDs have at
least a 5 volt PIV (peak inverse volts) rating, which is why they can be
reversed without damage. There are some exotic LEDs (the super-powerful
ones for example), that do not tolerate reversal well, and those
can have their life shortened. I think the more negative lead, is the
"common color" lead - mine have one black wire on each cable pair,
and the black would be the more negative. If each wire pair has a white
wire, I'd assume that is the common color, and the more negative wire.
The only advantage of getting it right the first time, is not having to
shut down and try again.

So it is pretty foolproof, as these things go.

If you need spare parts, you can find some interesting things
here.

This page has plastic bodies, for making your own endings for
the wires. The female crimp pins are near the bottom of the
web page. You buy more of those than you need, as the black plastic
bodies can be recycled, but the pins are for a single use only.

http://www.frontx.com/order_c.html

They also have some extension wires here. Depending on what you
are doing, you might need some plastic bodies to go with these.
Insulation is needed, so the wires don't short to one another.

http://www.frontx.com/store/order_ad.html

HTH,
Paul

On Dec 12, 2:59 am, "medico" <med...@spamoff.net> wrote:

> I have
> green & white power led 3 pin mobo has 2 pins ????????????? how do I get
> out of that?

If your PLED cable has 3 pins, note that the middle one is an empty/
dummy plug. It just makes it easier to plug in since you otherwise
would have two 1-pin connectors (also found in some cases).

> black & white switch 2 pin Can I assume that white is gnd?
> red & white hdd led 2 pin Can I assume that red is positive?
> purple & white reset switch 2 pin Can I assume that white is gnd?

White should always be ground/negative unless someone has messed it up.