[SOLVED] 2x5 USB 2.0 header on mobo, 1x5 connector from device

[jhsachs]

I've got a scavenged flash card reader that I'd like to use in a tower system. Its cable has a 1x5 pin header connector on the computer end with one blocked pin. I've figured out that this is a USB 2.0 connector, but my mobo's USB 2.0 connectors are all 2x5 pin headers with one blocked pin, designed to support cables to a pair of external USB connectors. Every motherboard USB connector I've ever seen was like that -- I never heard of a 5-pin header for a single USB device before.

What can I do with this thing? If I plug it into one-half of a 2x5-pin header, the other half of the header will be unusable. Whoever designed this stuff must have had something more rational in mind.

 

[Alabalcho]

2x5 headers provide for two USB ports. Most PC cases have pairs of USB ports to be connected to these headers, so 2x5 makes a lot of sense.

Your scavenged card reader can be connected to one row of the 2x5 header, make sure you correctly orient it, or you can damage the reader.

 

[jhsachs]

Alabalcho, I don't think I explained my question clearly. The things you told me are not my question's answer, but rather its background.

I'll present the question a different way: How did this device's designers intend it to be used? I doubt that they thought, "We'll tell the customer to plug this thing into half of a standard USB 2.0 header, making the other half unusable." They would provide some way to utilize the other half. The question is, what?

This is a problem that any internal USB device would create. I assume that there are one or a few conventional solutions for it. I'm asking what they are.

 

[beers]

The question is, what?

Sure, another card reader bro.

Since you 'scavenged' it from some proprietary system, either figure out the pin function or get a card reader that uses the full USB header, or a USB alternative. They're cheap enough that you've already spent more monetary value in time and effort messing with that archaic one than rolling a new one would cost.

 

[CountMike]

Alabalcho, I don't think I explained my question clearly. The things you told me are not my question's answer, but rather its background.

I'll present the question a different way: How did this device's designers intend it to be used? I doubt that they thought, "We'll tell the customer to plug this thing into half of a standard USB 2.0 header, making the other half unusable." They would provide some way to utilize the other half. The question is, what?

This is a problem that any internal USB device would create. I assume that there are one or a few conventional solutions for it. I'm asking what they are.

Yes, they do just that, take up whole USB2 header for 2 devices/channels and use only one. You could cut that connector off where empty holes are or it's easy to change for one sided connector. Pins in those connectors are easy to remove using just a sowing needle and even easier to insert.