Switching power with reset button

[Hoodboss]

Hello guys,

Since about a year, my power button doesn't work anymore. Very rarely does it work (God knows how) but usually I have to boot up my pressing the power button on the motherboard. I don't have too much knowledge about computers, but I assembled this one myself so I went inside to see what I could do. I found this:

http://imgur.com/uw3NH1r (sorry, for some reason you cannot make imgur images big anymore?)

It is 8 pins in total, 1 for power, 1 for reset, 2 for hdd light and 2 for led (positive and negative). However, there are 9 pins on the place where I can put these pins in (4 top 5 bottom).

On the motherboard, it looks like this:

LED POWER
HDD RESET

I tried to just put them in and see what happens, but nothing happens. I still cannot use the power button. Now I cannot use the reset button either. I don't see a light near the power button anymore (which used to indicate that my PC was turned on) and the LED thing I don't know what it is, but probably it stopped working as well.

How can I fix this? Once again sorry for the low quality image, how can I make it bigger? The names are listed in the pins that I have to plug in but I don't know if the name has to face downwards, upwards, or if it doesn't matter? And I really wonder what I do in the 9 pin motherboard thing if I only have 8 pins?

I hope you can help me out!! Kindest regards

 

[Paperdoc]

OK, we can help fix this.

First, what you plug in on those pins all are connectors with two holes each, so they each fit on an adjacent pair of pins. I assume the labels on the mobo are laid out as you typed them. So, I'll assume that the connectors need to be turned horizontally when you push them on. That is, the top left pair of pins accept the leads marked "Power LED" or something like that. This is for the front-panel power indicator light. Now, the way you turn the connector DOES matter for LED's because polarity matters. But don't worry, a mistake is not a disaster. If you turn the connector the wrong way and get the polarity backwards, the only result is that the LED fails to light up. Then all you need to do is disconnect, turn the connector over, and plug in to get the polarity right.

Below that are the two pins for HDD activity indicator on the front panel. This also is a LED so polarity matters. Again, if it works (LED blinks when HDD is accessed) you got it right. If not, just turn the connector over and change the polarity.

Back to the top line of pins, next two to the right are labelled POWER. This is where the connector for the front panel Power pushbutton switch connects. Do that for now, even if the switch seems faulty. Polarity does NOT matter for this switch. Below that plug is the leads from the Reset front panel switch, and again the polarity does not matter.

With things done this way, everything should work. Well, maybe not because you say the front Power switch appears to be faulty and does not work. If that's still the case, there's an easy work-around. Disconnect the Power leads from that upper pin pair, then move the leads for the front Reset switch to the pins for POWER. The switch type is exactly the same. This will make you front panel Reset pushbutton act as your replacement On / Off pushbutton. BUT you will no longer have a Reset button on the front to use.

 

[Hoodboss]

OK, we can help fix this.

First, what you plug in on those pins all are connectors with two holes each, so they each fit on an adjacent pair of pins. I assume the labels on the mobo are laid out as you typed them. So, I'll assume that the connectors need to be turned horizontally when you push them on. That is, the top left pair of pins accept the leads marked "Power LED" or something like that. This is for the front-panel power indicator light. Now, the way you turn the connector DOES matter for LED's because polarity matters. But don't worry, a mistake is not a disaster. If you turn the connector the wrong way and get the polarity backwards, the only result is that the LED fails to light up. Then all you need to do is disconnect, turn the connector over, and plug in to get the polarity right.

Below that are the two pins for HDD activity indicator on the front panel. This also is a LED so polarity matters. Again, if it works (LED blinks when HDD is accessed) you got it right. If not, just turn the connector over and change the polarity.

Back to the top line of pins, next two to the right are labelled POWER. This is where the connector for the front panel Power pushbutton switch connects. Do that for now, even if the switch seems faulty. Polarity does NOT matter for this switch. Below that plug is the leads from the Reset front panel switch, and again the polarity does not matter.

With things done this way, everything should work. Well, maybe not because you say the front Power switch appears to be faulty and does not work. If that's still the case, there's an easy work-around. Disconnect the Power leads from that upper pin pair, then move the leads for the front Reset switch to the pins for POWER. The switch type is exactly the same. This will make you front panel Reset pushbutton act as your replacement On / Off pushbutton. BUT you will no longer have a Reset button on the front to use.

Thank you for your response.

The thing I wonder about why I have 9 pinnable spots on the motherboard, whereas I have 8 pins total (4*2).

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How does this work?

 

[jsmithepa]

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How does this work?

Once upon a time, a single 10-pin plug goes onto this header, the "missing pin" is a key, so that the 10-pin plug can only go one way and not only that, it avoided you making a mistake and plug thing in one row over and potentially shorting things out.

This was possible because this header used to be standard on all motherboards, but these days, motherboard vendors have different header configurations, so now the case vendor give you individual 2/3 pins plugs and let you figure out which 2/3 pins plug in where. YOU JUST HAVE TO READ THE MANUAL and know which pins are which and make the connection. Some stuff are polarized (as in it can only go one way, like + and -) so be careful.

This used to work? you don't remember what you did the first time around?

 

[Hoodboss]

No, I don't remember how I did it the first time.

Now, nothing works. The manual of the ASRock Z77 Extreme says the following: http://imgur.com/eYAa6yY

So they don't use the left 2 pins (both top and down)? That's weird.

I first tried it this way: http://imgur.com/xs1t0dJ

Then I tried it the ASRock way. Both times, nothing happens. Reset and power buttons don't work. No light in front of my PC case.

What can it be...

 

[Paperdoc]

OK, with that info I looked up the mobo manual and got a clear diagram of this pinout header. Some of my assumptions were wrong. And by the way, the manual labels are printed porly and the two left-most pins ARE used.

Connect the lead for Power LED + to the top left, then Power LED - to the next pin over horizontally. This is as your "I tried first..." photo. Connect the HDD LED + to the bottom left pin, then HDD LED - to the one next to that. Continuing to the right on the TOP line, the next two pins are for the POWER button - polarity does not matter. (Your photo shows the Reset button leads plugged in there.) The leads from the Reset button should go to the pin pair below the PWR button. This leaves one unused pin at the right-hand end of the connector, and above it a space with no pin.

As I said before, if the front-panel power pushbutton is faulty, you can disconnect it and put the Reset button leads on its pins - that would look like your photo. The the Reset button becomes your On / Off button. If none of this gets your system to start up, you have a different problem. One simple check is to disconnect the plug on the two pins for the PWR button. Then take a small screwdriver and use it to short those two pins together for just a second or two. That momentary shorting of those pins should be enough to cause the system to start up. If it does, then your problem is in the front panel switches and / or the wiring leading up to them. If shorting those pins does nothing, you may have a problem with your PSU, or with the mobo.

Check whether the power switch on the back outside of you PSU module is turned on. It must be on before the other buttons can do anything.