Main > Main Forum

Power On issue - One button Start

<< < (7/10) > >>

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:

--- Quote from: thatitalian on April 30, 2008, 12:35:07 pm ---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. :banghead:


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.

--- End quote ---

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:

--- Quote from: jhabers on May 05, 2008, 08:52:19 pm ---
--- Quote from: thatitalian on April 30, 2008, 12:35:07 pm ---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. :banghead:


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.

--- End quote ---

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



--- End quote ---

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.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

Go to full version