Power On issue - One button Start

[thatitalian]

I have a Dell GX270 Small Frame Factor desktop.

I have opened her up to wire (splice) the power on button to a push button for my arcade machine to power the computer on.

Low and behold, the power on button on the desktop is wired using a ribbon cable to this mini control panel (which has front usb and sound on it) which is then fed into the motherboard using another ribbon cable.


Does anybody have any suggestions how I can wire this thing up so that I can power it on with one button start?

The computer will be plugged into a smart strip which will kick start the monitor and marquee light.

Thanks.

[whammoed]

Another option is to go into the bios and set it to Power On after power loss (if this is an option in the bios)
Then just use a switch or regular power strip to turn everything off and on.  When you turn on the power, your pc automatically boots.
This is the way I have mine.

Otherwise just cut and splice the appropriate wires for your power button.

[More Cowbell]

I'm with whammoed on this. I splice into a power strip and wire a switch to the cabinet. Switch controls strip, strip powers everything. Set the bios as whammy instructs and you're good to go.

[Neverending Project]

Is anyone worried about the increased potential of hardware failure with this option? What happens if the pc is writing to the disk when you cut power?

You could use a battery backup (UPS) instead of a power strip with this idea. Set the UPS software to shut down the machine immediately on power loss (and get rid of the annoying beeps). Then set the pc to restart after power loss.

[Ginsu Victim]

Is anyone worried about the increased potential of hardware failure with this option? What happens if the pc is writing to the disk when you cut power?

You could use a battery backup (UPS) instead of a power strip with this idea. Set the UPS software to shut down the machine immediately on power loss (and get rid of the annoying beeps). Then set the pc to restart after power loss.

You shut the PC down normal.

[Vash]

Is anyone worried about the increased potential of hardware failure with this option? What happens if the pc is writing to the disk when you cut power?

You could use a battery backup (UPS) instead of a power strip with this idea. Set the UPS software to shut down the machine immediately on power loss (and get rid of the annoying beeps). Then set the pc to restart after power loss.

You shut the PC down normal.

But if you want a completely hidden PC, i.e., no windows visible, that's a little hard...impossible, actually.

[Neverending Project]

You shut the PC down normal.

So you hit a button or use a menu to shutdown the pc, then flip the on/off toggle? Then to start it up, you turn on the toggle and hit the power button again? I get it...

I guess for the "one button start" you will need the UPS - then everything is turned off/on with the toggle.

[Hoopz]

Is anyone worried about the increased potential of hardware failure with this option? What happens if the pc is writing to the disk when you cut power?

You could use a battery backup (UPS) instead of a power strip with this idea. Set the UPS software to shut down the machine immediately on power loss (and get rid of the annoying beeps). Then set the pc to restart after power loss.

You shut the PC down normal.

But if you want a completely hidden PC, i.e., no windows visible, that's a little hard...impossible, actually.

No, its actually easy to do.  My power button is wired to the PC's power connection and my I-Pac is programmed to shut down the PC normally when the power button is hit.

[whammoed]

Is anyone worried about the increased potential of hardware failure with this option? What happens if the pc is writing to the disk when you cut power?

I use linux and a journaling file system, so no, not really.  I  actually used to use my front end to shut down the pc first but now I just cut the power.  Makes it simple for the kids too.
Either use your front end to shut down first or keep a backup hard drive around.

That's the way I do it but I certainly like the smart strip/pc power button also...in fact I have a product that will help the do-it-yourselfer with this option:

http://www.nicemite.com/PowermiteDD/PowermiteDD.htm

[Neverending Project]

I use linux and a journaling file system, so no, not really.

This is fine as far as data corruption goes, but I would be more concerned with the HD head crashing mid-write because the power is cut before it has a chance to park. This would (could) cause hardware failure.

[Ginsu Victim]

Is anyone worried about the increased potential of hardware failure with this option? What happens if the pc is writing to the disk when you cut power?

You could use a battery backup (UPS) instead of a power strip with this idea. Set the UPS software to shut down the machine immediately on power loss (and get rid of the annoying beeps). Then set the pc to restart after power loss.

You shut the PC down normal.

But if you want a completely hidden PC, i.e., no windows visible, that's a little hard...impossible, actually.

I mean shutdown from the frontend. I do it from Mamewah every day.
Once the PC is off, I flip the switch behind my cab to turn everything else off (a smart strip will eliminate this step).
Then to turn it back on,  I flip the switch and everything, PC included, comes back on.

[More Cowbell]

Is anyone worried about the increased potential of hardware failure with this option? What happens if the pc is writing to the disk when you cut power?

You could use a battery backup (UPS) instead of a power strip with this idea. Set the UPS software to shut down the machine immediately on power loss (and get rid of the annoying beeps). Then set the pc to restart after power loss.

You shut the PC down normal.

But if you want a completely hidden PC, i.e., no windows visible, that's a little hard...impossible, actually.

I mean shutdown from the frontend. I do it from Mamewah every day.
Once the PC is off, I flip the switch behind my cab to turn everything else off (a smart strip will eliminate this step).
Then to turn it back on,  I flip the switch and everything, PC included, comes back on.

Yep. I've done it that way with one of my cabs for years and never had an issue. I've also done the switch-off without shutting down the pc for years on another cab without issue. Yet.

[whammoed]

I use linux and a journaling file system, so no, not really.

This is fine as far as data corruption goes, but I would be more concerned with the HD head crashing mid-write because the power is cut before it has a chance to park. This would (could) cause hardware failure.

I simply don't worry about that.   So far so good, it's been 3-4 years.  I've had drives die before that time that were babied.
How do "real" arcade games that have hard drives handle it?
I eventually plan to put a flash drive in there instead.

[Zobeid]

I have a Dell GX270 Small Frame Factor desktop.

I have opened her up to wire (splice) the power on button to a push button for my arcade machine to power the computer on.

Low and behold, the power on button on the desktop is wired using a ribbon cable to this mini control panel (which has front usb and sound on it) which is then fed into the motherboard using another ribbon cable.

I have a full-sized Dell with a similar design.  I checked eBay and found somebody was selling replacement power switches for it.  Basically the switch is on a tiny PCB, then there's a ribbon cable leading to the other small PCB that you referred to.  So. . .  I haven't hooked it up yet, but it should be easy to unplug the original ribbon and plug in the new one, and get access to the power signal through that.

I don't know if those power switches are still available, but it wouldn't hurt to do a search.

[paigeoliver]

A mame cab should never be in a situation where it is writing anything of import to disk, thus they are usually pretty safe just to flip the switch on.

[BobA]

Just tap into the power on circuit where the wire ribbon goes to the actual switch.   Thus you know you have the right contacts and don't have to figure out the ribbon conductors and mini boards.   Shorting the 2 wires will cause the computer to turn on.

[Zobeid]

A mame cab should never be in a situation where it is writing anything of import to disk, thus they are usually pretty safe just to flip the switch on.

The problem would be if MAME has written something (config, high scores) to the disk cache but it hasn't been written through to the actual disk yet.  Then you cut the power and the data is lost.  A normal shutdown would flush those caches.

[Zobeid]

Just tap into the power on circuit where the wire ribbon goes to the actual switch.   Thus you know you have the right contacts and don't have to figure out the ribbon conductors and mini boards.   Shorting the 2 wires will cause the computer to turn on.

If his system is like my Dell, he has no way of knowing (except trial and error, I guess?) which wires carry the power-switch signal.  The actual switch on mine is buried deep in the front panel of the computer, and I couldn't find any way to dig it out without completely disassembling the computer and possibly inflicting major damage, so there's no way to trace the wires.

Since I got the replacement switch, now I can trace the wires and see which one does what.

[paulscade]

In XP... turn off your disk write caching:
Device Manager --> Disk Drives --> Properties --> Policy

This way writes happen immediately... it shouldn't have much effect on performance on a MAME cab.

I think that paigeoliver said it right... aside from very short writes (high scores, updating play count, etc.), MAME isn't doing much disk writing.

... you'll feel better when you pull the plug (so to speak).   

[Ginsu Victim]

^This is what I did to mine and have had no issues.

[paigeoliver]

Yes, I said data of importance. I am willing to take the teeny tiny chance that my Bump n Jump high score doesn't get saved if I try to turn the machine off simultaneous with exiting the game.

A mame cab should never be in a situation where it is writing anything of import to disk, thus they are usually pretty safe just to flip the switch on.

The problem would be if MAME has written something (config, high scores) to the disk cache but it hasn't been written through to the actual disk yet.  Then you cut the power and the data is lost.  A normal shutdown would flush those caches.

[protokatie]

As a side question: How long does windowsNT/XP/etc wait to clear the write buffer/write to actual disk when no new writes are made? On my old 3.1 system the default was 5 seconds(could be altered). I would imagine that a similar time limit for the write buffer is still in place, so waiting say 10 seconds after exiting a game before pulling the plug might be perfectly safe.

[thatitalian]

Woooh!

Thanks for all the replies!

Zobeid, do you have a link to the ebay sale???


If not, I quite like the idea of flicking the power switch and everything  comes on.

Does anyone know if the Dell GX270 supports this Power On after power loss feature as I can't seem to find it?

[whammoed]

Woooh!

Thanks for all the replies!

Zobeid, do you have a link to the ebay sale???


If not, I quite like the idea of flicking the power switch and everything  comes on.

Does anyone know if the Dell GX270 supports this Power On after power loss feature as I can't seem to find it?

Yes it does.  Look under Power Management, there should be AC Power Recovery Options...set to On — The computer starts when AC power is restored.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx270/en/ug/advfeat.htm#1128164

[The_Tyler_Black]

Notice the search option at the top, works like a charm. But ill help you out anyway...

This is the graphic for the (cntrl brd) that comes out of the motherboard!

The two circled are the power!!

[thatitalian]

Yeah I saw this earlier, but it means diddly squat to me as my wiring only stretches as far as splicing. Soldering boards is not my strong point.

Thanks for the heads up though!

[The_Tyler_Black]

well soldering is probably the best way to do it since the wires in the ribbon cable are teeny tiny, and since you cant solder then its pointless to tell you to add the wires to the back of the original switch! I have no idea how your gunna do it, unless your magic? 

[Ginsu Victim]

I have a Dell Optiplex GX110 in my cab. It's set to power on after AC failure, and I turn everything on at once with a switch at the wall plate. I just reach behind my cab and flip it on.
When I need to turn it all off, I shut down the PC through Mamewah, then when it's off, I flip the switch behind the cab for the rest.

[The_Tyler_Black]

So the problem for our boy "that italian" is how to splice wires in a ribbon cable and find a way to connect the wires to the teeny tiny ribbon wires without soldering! And i think still have the button on the front of the computer work!

I say this is a task that is next to impossible. Does anybody live in his area that can go and solder for him? I would but its probably not for me.

[thatitalian]

I ordered a new button. So the one on the front of the pc wont be affected as it wont be connected.

As  I will have access to the button itself I assume there will be wires that will come out of the ribbon wire into the button. What i was planning to do was to cut and strip these wires and the attach a new set of wires running to the push button on the CP of my cab.

I can solder... just not well enough to do a board. Wires I hope won't be a problem...

[Zobeid]

I finally got around to wiring mine up yesterday.  So here are some fresh observations. . .

The ribbon cable has a standard header at each end.  So, there are several ways you can skin this cat.  You could cut up the ribbon, I suppose.  My approach was to leave the ribbon cable intact, leave the header attached to the PCB, and solder a couple of leads to the PCB itself.  It had a couple of solder pads that are grounded, so attaching the ground lead to one of those was easy.  I soldered the signal lead to one of the legs of the switch.  This was tricky, because it's a very small spot.  I really wished for a third hand and more light.  Anyhow I got it done, even if looks a bit ugly.

I used a length of old phone cable (two wires) and threaded it through a hole in the PCB, so if it accidentally gets yanked then the insulated part of the cable will take the stress, it won't pull the leads loose from the PCB.  I still need to make a little cardboard box or something to surround the PCB and keep it from shorting against anything inside the PC case.

The original switch PCB and ribbon in the PC are left alone.  I just unplugged the old ribbon and plugged in the new one.  If the PC is ever used for anything else, it'll be easy to return it to normal operation.

It's working as intended.  I also have the Smart Strip working in the cabinet, though it took me a few tries to get the sensitivity adjusted right.

[jhabers]

I have a Dell GX270 Small Frame Factor desktop.

I have opened her up to wire (splice) the power on button to a push button for my arcade machine to power the computer on.

Low and behold, the power on button on the desktop is wired using a ribbon cable to this mini control panel (which has front usb and sound on it) which is then fed into the motherboard using another ribbon cable.


Does anybody have any suggestions how I can wire this thing up so that I can power it on with one button start?

The computer will be plugged into a smart strip which will kick start the monitor and marquee light.

Thanks.

I know this is off topic but I saw gx270 and I have dealt with many of those in the recent years. When you get a chance check your capacitors around the CPU for bulging. This line is notorious for caps going bad. You can still call dell for a free replacement board if your are going bad.

Here is a pic of a bulging cap, and the second is a really bad one where they started leaking

gx270 and 280's had this problem, if you have this computer may be worth it to check it out

[thatitalian]

Could I just wire some wires into the ribbon cable header holes? I have never dones this so I don't know.

I have ordered an new button so cutting it shouldn't be a problem as the original will be still inside the desktop but will this expose the wires I need correctly?

[thatitalian]

OK, got the switch today. It is a PCB with a ribbon cable attached, as Zobeid said.

I did not realise it was like this, so now I see why soldering is easy!

But on the picture of where the power is circled it looks like one is the power and one is for the HDD Led.

Zobeid, could you post a pic of your PCB and where you soldered the wires to on the PCB and the push button?

Thanks.

[mountain]

I have a Dell GX270 Small Frame Factor desktop.

I have opened her up to wire (splice) the power on button to a push button for my arcade machine to power the computer on.

Low and behold, the power on button on the desktop is wired using a ribbon cable to this mini control panel (which has front usb and sound on it) which is then fed into the motherboard using another ribbon cable.


Does anybody have any suggestions how I can wire this thing up so that I can power it on with one button start?

The computer will be plugged into a smart strip which will kick start the monitor and marquee light.

Thanks.

I know this is off topic but I saw gx270 and I have dealt with many of those in the recent years. When you get a chance check your capacitors around the CPU for bulging. This line is notorious for caps going bad. You can still call dell for a free replacement board if your are going bad.

Here is a pic of a bulging cap, and the second is a really bad one where they started leaking

gx270 and 280's had this problem, if you have this computer may be worth it to check it out

Are you sure? I was given a dead GX270 a few months back and looked into that after researching and finding out about the bad cap issue. That expired in February if I remember correctly. I just bought and replaced all 13 caps and it works great now.

[jhabers]

I have a Dell GX270 Small Frame Factor desktop.

I have opened her up to wire (splice) the power on button to a push button for my arcade machine to power the computer on.

Low and behold, the power on button on the desktop is wired using a ribbon cable to this mini control panel (which has front usb and sound on it) which is then fed into the motherboard using another ribbon cable.


Does anybody have any suggestions how I can wire this thing up so that I can power it on with one button start?

The computer will be plugged into a smart strip which will kick start the monitor and marquee light.

Thanks.

I know this is off topic but I saw gx270 and I have dealt with many of those in the recent years. When you get a chance check your capacitors around the CPU for bulging. This line is notorious for caps going bad. You can still call dell for a free replacement board if your are going bad.

Here is a pic of a bulging cap, and the second is a really bad one where they started leaking

gx270 and 280's had this problem, if you have this computer may be worth it to check it out

Are you sure? I was given a dead GX270 a few months back and looked into that after researching and finding out about the bad cap issue. That expired in February if I remember correctly. I just bought and replaced all 13 caps and it works great now.

 

I guess it depends who you get on the phone and how much you complain.  I go through my dell rep so he handles it all for me

[Zobeid]

My ugly gob of solder shames me. . .   I'm pretty rusty with a soldering iron.  But it does work:



You can see the main trace that runs all around the PCB is the ground.

[thatitalian]

Your board looks slightly different to mine.

I'll post some pictures up of mine as soon as I get home.

How is it connected to your push button?

What parts did you actually apply solder to on the board?

[Zobeid]

How is it connected to your push button?  What parts did you actually apply solder to on the board?

The red and green wires, they lead to my pushbutton. . .   Short them together and it starts up -- or shuts down, as the case may be.  The green wire is soldered to the ground trace and the red is soldered to a leg of the tiny pushbutton.

Really, if you aren't sure then just look at the tiny pushbutton on the PCB.  You can solder both wires to its legs.  All you're doing is replacing its function with your own button.

[DaOld Man]

Nice work, Z