Solved Installing a 3 pin -> 2 pin connector for PWR LED

Hbomb

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Ug. I'm trying to set up a new motherboard in my rig, and I note that the motherboard has only 2 pins for this, wheras the case has a 3 pin connector. There's no room for the extra pin, and the 3 pin adapter is encased in hard plastic as shown. Does anyone have experience with this? What would you do?

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there are little tabs - locking the pins in place (they look white in your pic) lift those tabs with a needle or small pic and pull the pins out of the connector
 

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Some motherboards have an extra 3 pin connector next to the normal front panel connector for the 3 pin type power led.

What mother board do you have?

pw led.JPG
 

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Does anyone have experience with this? What would you do?
many times over the years I have cut the black plastic removing one wire ,but I don't suggest that to you ,what I suggest is a new cheap case .maybe at newegg or tigerdirect
 

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Please provide your case and motherboard brands and model numbers so we can verify the correct process.
 

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there are little tabs - locking the pins in place (they look white in your pic) lift those tabs with a needle or small pic and pull the pins out of the connector

Be careful lifting the locking tabs, they will break off quit easily. Been there done that.
 

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Thanks man. I ended up doing this and wrapping the exposed metal in electrical tape. Make sense?

Case is an Antec Solo
Motherboard is Gigabyte 990 FXA UD3

there are little tabs - locking the pins in place (they look white in your pic) lift those tabs with a needle or small pic and pull the pins out of the connector
 

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those are the same type connectors that are used in Radio Control Electronics.. so been there and done that many times.. You are just looking to slightly lift the tab not pry it up..
 

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Hbomb said:
I note that the motherboard has only 2 pins for this
Oh? Not according to your manual on page 25 where it clearly shows the 3-pin connector from that case goes across 3 pins of the Front Panel Header (pins 15, 17, and )19.

Note there may only be 2 wires but the connector is a 3-pin.

Make sure you are not confusing the power switch with the power LED.
 

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those are the same type connectors that are used in Radio Control Electronics.. so been there and done that many times.. You are just looking to slightly lift the tab not pry it up..

:thumb: You know that and I know that, I wasn't sure the OP knew it though.
 

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I have never seen a locking tab on Front Panel wiring connections on the motherboard
 

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I have never seen a locking tab on Front Panel wiring connections on the motherboard

I think I know what your referring to, like on the power supply connector that plugs into the mother board. We're talking about a little tab that holds the metal contact in the plastic shell. If you lift it slightly you can pull the wire and the contact and all comes out. You'll be left with the wire and the metal contact that's crimped to its end in one hand, and the plastic shell in the other.
 

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I have never seen a locking tab on Front Panel wiring connections on the motherboard

I think I know what your referring to, like on the power supply connector that plugs into the mother board. We're talking about a little tab that holds the metal contact in the plastic shell. If you lift it slightly you can pull the wire and the contact and all comes out. You'll be left with the wire and the metal contact that's crimped to its end in one hand, and the plastic shell in the other.

But this is about the case's front panel wires that connect to the motherboard's Front Panel I/O, not power supply cables that connect to the motherboard's power connectors. So I agree with caperjack and there should NOT be any locking tabs. If you reverse the connectors from the case's front panel, no harm will be done. The power and reset buttons will still work and at most, the LED lights for power and HD activity will not light.

If there are locking tabs, then someone has the cables mixed up.
 

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the image in the first post is not something that comes a part ,[with out a pair of wire cutters ],not in any machine I have ever worked on ,or built since 1998
 

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I think before we jump to any conclusions we need to wait until the OP comes back and responds to my post #9 above.
 

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the image in the first post is not something that comes a part ,[with out a pair of wire cutters ],not in any machine I have ever worked on ,or built since 1998

Ah, you can actually see the retaining tab in those pictures. If you look at one on one of the case cables, one side has a small opening where you can see the metal connector inside. If you carefully lift the little bit of plastic below the opening, towards the wire, the wire and metal contact will slide out. Push it back in the same way it came out and it will latch back into the plastic cover again. All those case cables with the black plastic covers are like that. When I was still working as an electronic technician, we had the pins, covers and crimping tool to make our own cables for equipment we fabricated.
 

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They're talking about removing the wire from the housing itself. The wire terminals have a metal tab and the housing itself has a plastic tab. When the terminal is inserted into the housing the 2 tabs lock the terminal in place so it stays in place. KYHI described lifting the plastic tab to release the terminal but in my experience it's easier to use a pick tool or even a paper clip to push down on the metal tab of the terminal itself which will release the terminal and let you remove it without cutting the wire.
 

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I have never seen a locking tab on Front Panel wiring connections on the motherboard

I think I know what your referring to, like on the power supply connector that plugs into the mother board. We're talking about a little tab that holds the metal contact in the plastic shell. If you lift it slightly you can pull the wire and the contact and all comes out. You'll be left with the wire and the metal contact that's crimped to its end in one hand, and the plastic shell in the other.

But this is about the case's front panel wires that connect to the motherboard's Front Panel I/O, not power supply cables that connect to the motherboard's power connectors. So I agree with caperjack and there should NOT be any locking tabs. If you reverse the connectors from the case's front panel, no harm will be done. The power and reset buttons will still work and at most, the LED lights for power and HD activity will not light.

If there are locking tabs, then someone has the cables mixed up.

Yes I know, I was just using the power cable as an example of a connector that has a locking tab on it to keep in mated with the plug it plugs into.. Locking tab as in you can't unplug the connector without releasing the locking tab. That's what I thought Caperjack was referring to.

The tab in question is one to release a wire and the metal end crimped to it from the shell. Two different tabs.
 

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  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
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    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
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    Internet Explorer 11
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    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
maybe so ,I must have missed that feature ,will have to did out a old computer and have a look ,
 

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    Motherboard
    gigibyte ga-78lmy-s2p
    Memory
    4gig ddr3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radon hd5000 Series
    Sound Card
    onboard realtek hd
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" viewsonic/ 22"Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    128gig ssd Kingston
    80gig WD 10000 rpm spinner
    Case
    micro
    Keyboard
    microsoft curve 200
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless M215
    Internet Speed
    high speed 20
    Browser
    ie 11
    Antivirus
    windows defender
    Other Info
    updated enterprise apr 2/14
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