Question Bypassing the power switch - Aurora R4

[Richard P]

Yea, it's an old computer, but is still exactly what I need for my simple design work.

The poorly designed and made power switch finally fell apart, and from what I've read so far, it's a common problem. Unfortunately, so far I can find almost nothing on how to bypass it.

Is there any way to bypass it? I've tried to make contact between the 2 contacts in the bottom of the switch, thinking that should work, but no go as yet. I would assume that the switch has at least 2 wires going from it to a plug somewhere,but can find no info on that so far. I've looked to see how to get at the board the switch is on, but that look like a real nightmare in disassembly.

Any advice?

 

[bill001g]

So with dell you can never be 100% sure but it seems it uses a standard connectors on the motherboard.
The switch to turn on the computer tends to be one that connects the 2 wires together for a short time while you have the button presses and then does not when you release it.

You will see lots of stuff where people show how to boot a computer with a screw driver by shorting those 2 pins on the motherboard.

What you can likely do is cut the switch off. Then touch the wires together for a short time and then disconnect them. You likely can find a replacement switch of somekind that will work.

 

[Richard P]

Unfortunately, getting to the switch seems to be a major exercise what could entail some major breakage of plastic parts - this has to be the worst design exercise I've ever seen!

Again, assuming just 2 wires connected to that switch, where the heck do they go to? I see one 2-wire plug on the top right of the motherboard that looks to be labeled CPU ON, so maybe I should do a continuity check to see if those indeed are the switch wires.

I also just bought used R4 off of ebay that I may get going while trying to figure this one out - it was a very high $$ gamers computer that does incredible rendering of solid models, so I hate to lose it over a dumb switch!

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

https://www.dell.com/community/en/c...-wiring-of-mio-board/647f9a95f4ccf8a8dee42feb

Looks like it should be connected to the 6th and 8th pins on the JFP1 header of the "MIO board" (some proprietary extension/daughterboard?).

 

[Richard P]

Unfortunately, your link first brought me to Dell sales in India (!), and on a second try, to a Page Not Found message!

So far, looking at both the motherboard and the other smaller board (MIO board, I think), I find no 2-wire plugs. Is it possible that the 2-wire switch pulls in a power transistor or micro relay on the board that has the switch, which then would have more wires (4?) and be labeled as something other than Power Stitch?

Does anyone know exactly how you remove the power switch board?

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Unfortunately, your link first brought me to Dell sales in India (!), and on a second try, to a Page Not Found message!

So far, looking at both the motherboard and the other smaller board (MIO board, I think), I find no 2-wire plugs. Is it possible that the 2-wire switch pulls in a power transistor or micro relay on the board that has the switch, which then would have more wires (4?) and be labeled as something other than Power Stitch?

Weird, the link works fine for me. Might be region-locked. Anyway, like I said it's pins 6 and 8 of the 9-pin JFP1 header on the MIO board.

 

[Richard P]

OK, thanks. Will get back to dismantling it later today - finally found a link to a service manual ( https://dl.dell.com/manuals/all-pro...dsk/alienware-aurora_service manual_en-us.pdf ),, that shows all the steps to get the board out.

 

[bill001g]

It would be so nice if dell/alienware did not have to try to reinvent everything.

So it appears the motherboard has the standard front panel connectors that you normally hook a power switch to. The problem is that io board they talk about. I suspect they have wired that board in between the switch and the connectors on the board.

Not sure the best option.

You could if you get very desperate find the 2 wires that go to the power on pins on the actual motherboard that are marked front panel connector. Cut the 2 wires and place a normal switch on those 2 wires.

 

[Richard P]

Weird, the link works fine for me. Might be region-locked. Anyway, like I said it's pins 6 and 8 of the 9-pin JFP1 header on the MIO board.

Do you know the physical location of that connector? Lots of connectors along the bottom edge of the IO board,but it is almost impossible to see what they are labeled as.

 

[bill001g]

So if you look at the manual you linked on page 14 there is a diagram of the motherboard.

The connector you are looking for is marked at "15". It is the far right one on the bottom.
If you then were to look up the standard pin location for a pc front pannel connector you will find the power switch connects to pin 6,8. These are the rightmost 2 pin on the top row of the connector. What is common to do since they are close together is to take a screw driver and short them when you are testing a motherboard outside a case. You could connect a new switch to those pins.

The thing I am not sure of is. Is dell being a idiot and has a cable running from that port on the motherboard to their I/o board...on page 15...and then connects the switch to the i/o board. If they do that things are going to be lots harder.

 

[Richard P]

Well, I ended up buying another R4 pretty cheap ( Toms Hardware) and got it running fine. I'll save this computer and fix it sometime later if necessary.

Thanks for you trying to help!