How to connect the dell front panel connectors to a 3rd party motherboard

Oct 30, 2018
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Iam using a dell optiplex 7010 mt and Iam thinking of swapping the mobo
with a gigabyte ga a320m s2h mobo but the front panel connectors of the optiplex case take up every pin on the new mobo i need help
 
Solution


The only way is to trace each wire back to the item it connects and then connect that wire the co-responding pin on the motherboard. So the wires going to power switch connect to switch pair, the wires going to power LED to the power LED pair, etc. etc. You...
Ok let me make this clear the new mobo which is a gigabyte a320 s2h has 9 pins
for the front panel connectors but my front panel connectors look different from the ones you get in cases like nzxt and cooler master and make matters even worse the power switch is in a diffrent place on the mobo and the the hdd led together with the microphone and headphone is in a diffrent place so how do i cramp all this into that 9 pins on the gigabyte mobo i hope you will understand this
 


The only way is to trace each wire back to the item it connects and then connect that wire the co-responding pin on the motherboard. So the wires going to power switch connect to switch pair, the wires going to power LED to the power LED pair, etc. etc. You can use your manual to identify each of the pairs on the new motherboard.

I don't know what the connection scheme is for the Dell motherboard. If the wires are terminated with sockets inserted into a connector shell you can usually remove them and then either re-arrange them in the shell to match the motherboard or slip the socket directly on the terminal pins on the motherboard. The absolute worst case is to resort to soldering them...try not to go there!

Yes, it's tedious. For front panel controls you'll probably have a Power Switch pair (+/- but that really doesn't matter), Power LED (+/- and matters), HDD LED (+/- and matters), Reset Switch (maybe none so don't worry about it.) Yes there is a lot of trial and error since LED's are polarized. And Dell may have skimped by using one or two wires only for ground so look for that situation too: in which case if you get the one ground wire on one of the '-' pins it will probably work OK.

Front panel audio on the new motherboard is probably in a completely different area from the front panel controls and may be a real problem anyway if Dell is as proprietary as they say. In which case, you should still have the full array of audio jacks on the back side of the new motherboard available. But many people don't connect front panel audio because the unshielded leads used in most cases just induce noise onto the sound: so you've got a great come-back for the haters when they notice it.

To reach all the new locations (Dell's managers make their annual bonuses by saving on copper costs with shortest wires possible) you'll probably have to lengthen wires by splicing in some more. You can cut up those unused front panel audio wires for that.
 
Solution