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| Hacking the power switch on a Dell |
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| gamecreature:
So I was all set to hack the power switch on this Dell computer to connect it to a switch on the front of my cabinet. I expected to find a simple pair of wires running from the switch to a socket on the motherboard. What did I find? I found that the power button is well concealed behind a major bit of chassis that holds the drives and no wiring at all that appears to run from the front to the MB (except for the cabling for the drives). I'm guessing my next step is to try and disassemble that chassis and the front panel. But I figured I'd ask here for anything I might have missed that might make my job a little easier. Did I just happen to miss the leads that go from the switch to the MB and if so, how do I find them? |
| KillerArcades:
without knowing exactly what model Dell you're working with, I'm only going to be able to talk in general terms, but PC MB's all have a set of pins for the PC speaker, reset switch, power switch, HD light indicator, etc and a bunch of plastic connectors that slide onto these pins, you want to find the PW SW connector and splice into those two wires and then just run your pair of wires up to your external ON/OFF pushbutton that you've added to your cab. I wouldn't even bother tearing up the chassis, just open your case and do it more from the MB end, then just run your wires out of some holes in your case, etc. |
| leapinlew:
I agree. See if you can find the pinout on the motherboard. I've seen quite a few dells. The last one had a big block of wires that plugged into the mobo. You can simply unplug the block and start shorting the pin outs to find which two powers on the system. |
| JoyMonkey:
Most recent Dell's that I've seen have a small ribbon cable (like a small floppy connector) that connect to a daughterboard in the front of the case that has the front usb ports and headphone socket components, a smaller ribbon cable then goes from this daughterboard to a the power button and LEDs. |
| logik:
I have a dell gx150 in one of my mame cabs and I hacked the power button. I pulled off the very fron to the case to reveal the "daughter card" that the power button, sound, usb etc all connect to before going to the motherboard. I then followed the solder traces on the daughter card to where the power button was soldered to and then to the ribbon cable. I then spliced the ribbon cable and tied in a new, extended power switch. if i was home I could take a pic, but out of town for the next week. |
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