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trying to wire an arcade button to the power button on my pc
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Silverwind:
I started reading the thread.. and reading about your frustration and determination made me want to find out the ending!  Nice work.

Like your avatar, BTW!
Donkbaca:
To sum it up so you don't have to read every post:
Frustration
Rocket science
Hulk Hoagnizing
Randy FTW
katuuuz:

--- Quote from: Donkbaca on December 20, 2010, 12:20:50 am ---To sum it up so you don't have to read every post:
Frustration
Rocket science
Hulk Hoagnizing
Randy FTW

--- End quote ---

If I wasn't on my iPhone I would make that my signature.

@silver: blondes definitely have more fun.
Hituro:

--- Quote from: RandyT on December 19, 2010, 03:10:54 pm ---
No, but this scenario is different than what you think it is, and reading the rest of the posts (and clicking on some links) would probably have illustrated that.  The OP is dealing with an oddball mini-pc, and the part you linked to is worthless here.  But perhaps someone else with a standard PC motherboard, wishing to do the same, will benefit from it.

I agree that it's not "rocket science" in a normal situation, but this one isn't normal.

--- End quote ---

OK, so just to appease you I went and read every post in this thread.  I clicked the links, I read about hulk-hoganing to get to the actual switch.  And even read my posts and maybe they seemed harsh.  But I still think you are wrong.  I do not think soldering needed to be done to complete this task.  Granted it's already been done, so congrats on getting it to work.  I'm just saying it could have been done in a much more simple, and less frustrating way.  And here's how.

So judging by the photos posted, there is a daughter board that is connected via an IDE cable, an audio cable that attaches to the audio pins on the motherboard and it also looks like that same cable with the audio has some type of power connector as well, like a molex, but it's a 2 in 1.  Not sure, hard to tell from the photo, but just taking a guess based on the look of the wires.  Also on the daughter board, is a set of pins labeled "CNTRL_PANEL".  These pins then have a ribbon cable that is composed of wires used for the power switch, reset switch, etc, that run to a control pannel that contains the switch which when connected, will power on the PC when pressed.  So to simplify:

2 Cables connect Daughter Board to Motherboard and 1 Cable connects Daughterboard to a control panel.    Correct?

Now, all that I/O panel is.  Is a glorified switch spread out on a circuit board.  I realize this is a mini-pc, and thus components are spread out and compartmentalized.  However, the only things that need to be focused on, are those pins for the "CNTRL_PANEL" on the daughter board.  The control panel is not required for booting up the PC in this project.  There is no power cable that runs to the control panel board, it's just the ribbon cable.  All this cable is doing, is spreading the contact points to the button, so that when the button is pressed it bridges the connection.  The ribbon cable isn't necessary either.

So my suggested solution.  That part I mentioned earlier.  It will fit on two prongs on that connector labeled "CNTRL_PANEL".  Even though it's on a daughter board, most full size boards have those included on them, and the pin connectors look exactly the same.  Once that is connected, if you push the micro switch on the end, it will do the exact same thing as soldering wires from the control panel to a separate micro switch.  Unless the main power from the power supply doesn't run into the motherboard and runs somewhere else, which I've never seen but anything is possible, then it should have no problem working.  You haven't tried my suggestion, but I'm pretty sure it would work.  Heck, if I had that same PC I'd be willing to try it.  I'm almost even tempted to buy that same model just to test it out.  I'm not trying to step on toes, I just think there is a more efficient and easier approach to accomplishing this.
katuuuz:

--- Quote from: Hituro on December 20, 2010, 04:40:51 am ---OK, so just to appease you I went and read every post in this thread.  I clicked the links, I read about hulk-hoganing to get to the actual switch.  And even read my posts and maybe they seemed harsh.  But I still think you are wrong.  I do not think soldering needed to be done to complete this task.  Granted it's already been done, so congrats on getting it to work.  I'm just saying it could have been done in a much more simple, and less frustrating way.  And here's how.

So judging by the photos posted, there is a daughter board that is connected via an IDE cable, an audio cable that attaches to the audio pins on the motherboard and it also looks like that same cable with the audio has some type of power connector as well, like a molex, but it's a 2 in 1.  Not sure, hard to tell from the photo, but just taking a guess based on the look of the wires.  Also on the daughter board, is a set of pins labeled "CNTRL_PANEL".  These pins then have a ribbon cable that is composed of wires used for the power switch, reset switch, etc, that run to a control pannel that contains the switch which when connected, will power on the PC when pressed.  So to simplify:

2 Cables connect Daughter Board to Motherboard and 1 Cable connects Daughterboard to a control panel.    Correct?

Now, all that I/O panel is.  Is a glorified switch spread out on a circuit board.  I realize this is a mini-pc, and thus components are spread out and compartmentalized.  However, the only things that need to be focused on, are those pins for the "CNTRL_PANEL" on the daughter board.  The control panel is not required for booting up the PC in this project.  There is no power cable that runs to the control panel board, it's just the ribbon cable.  All this cable is doing, is spreading the contact points to the button, so that when the button is pressed it bridges the connection.  The ribbon cable isn't necessary either.

So my suggested solution.  That part I mentioned earlier.  It will fit on two prongs on that connector labeled "CNTRL_PANEL".  Even though it's on a daughter board, most full size boards have those included on them, and the pin connectors look exactly the same.  Once that is connected, if you push the micro switch on the end, it will do the exact same thing as soldering wires from the control panel to a separate micro switch.  Unless the main power from the power supply doesn't run into the motherboard and runs somewhere else, which I've never seen but anything is possible, then it should have no problem working.  You haven't tried my suggestion, but I'm pretty sure it would work.  Heck, if I had that same PC I'd be willing to try it.  I'm almost even tempted to buy that same model just to test it out.  I'm not trying to step on toes, I just think there is a more efficient and easier approach to accomplishing this.

--- End quote ---

First, thanks Hituro for not being sarcastic in this post, it was much easier to take seriously.  I understand what you are saying, and thought the same before gaining access to the board in front. 

In that photo of the ribbon with the green, blue, red, and yellow lines drawn on it... each of those combinations shorted my multimeter.  Also, i stuck wire in the holes (tried all 3 combos) and touched the wires together which should have booted the pc but didn't.  i think it would have worked if i spliced into the ribbon and found the right pair while that ribbon header was plugged into the IO panel which would have enabled power to be connected to the board as well.

IMO it was easier to solder to the 2 pins on the control board, instead of tearing up the ribbon and possibly ruining it in the process.  I would have taken this risk if only one pair of holes in the ribbon shorted my DMM, but there was 3 different combinations which did so while pressing the power button.  So there was no way for me to tell which 2 actually would power the pc without ripping the ribbon to shreds and making more of a mess than i did with the solder.

Anyway, got it working, and I'm putting it to rest.  If I was to come across another 4600c, (I'd have to receive it for free for that to happen) I would go the solder route again.
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