Help with tying up the loose ends on first build (Front Connectors)

Krands1985 · 31 Aug 2006 at 21:28

Hi all. I've been busy with my first ever build today, I've got everything slotted in and connected up (hopefully correctly

) but I've got 3 grey wires with various connectors coming out of them left over.

These are the front panel connectors from my case. I've managed to do the Power/Reset/LED connectors OK.

My case is the Lian Li PC7+, the motherboard is the Gigabyte DS3.

The three I'm having trouble with are:

1).The USB connectors - There are 3 USB (F_USB1, F_USB2, F_USB3) connectors on my mobo, but I'm a bit unsure as to how to connect everything up. On the cable, there are: a 10pin connector with one of the corner slots blocked. (This connects to any of the 3 USB connectors); Two 3pin connectors, one says "VCC 1"; USB1 -; USB1 + and the other says "VCC 2"; "USB2 -"; "USB2 +" and two single pin connectors that say 1Ground and 2Ground.

I assume that the 10pin connector goes into F_USB3, and a combination of the other connectors go into F_USB1, and F_USB2, but I'm unsure which pins go where, and theres no help in the Mobo manual like there was for the Power/Reset etc.

2).Another 10 pin connector with a blocked corner slot. This has got a load of 1 pin connectors attached to it, saying "TPA-", "TPA+","TPB-", "TPB+", 2x"VP", 2x"VG" and "SHIELD" I have no idea what on earth these are for, or what the letters even stand for.

3) Another 10pin connector, but instead of having the corner slot blocked, it's one in from the corner. This seems to correspond to the F_Audio connector, however, there are more 1 pin connectors attached, but I don't see anywhere to connect them. These say "L-RET" "R-RET" "L-OUT" "R-OUT" "MIC-IN" "MIC POWER" and "GROUND".

If anyone with the same motherboard and case as me, or anyone who can actually read and understand what I've just typed, can give me some advice, it would be much appreciated.

If it's easier to do over MSN and you're willing to help me out, send me a PM. Cheers

EDIT:
Realised theres no PMs, so I've put my MSN in my trust.

Sir Random · 31 Aug 2006 at 21:42

Check the manual again, it should list the USB header pin connections.

The VP/VB/Shield etc wires are for the Firewire header (looks very like USB header)

Krands1985 · 31 Aug 2006 at 21:55

This is what the manual has about the USB connectors:

So I still don't have a clue

Oh, and my board doesn't have firewire, so I guess I don't need to worry about the second set of cables.

manoz · 31 Aug 2006 at 21:57

Make sure the GND label on the USB connector lines up closest to the side with the pin missing. That missing pin is a key to help you me thinks?

Also, make sense, Firewire?

Sir Random · 31 Aug 2006 at 22:03

That's all you need, the layout is shown in that small diagram in the middle.
EDIT\ I'm talking about the Manual diagram posted by op.

One set of connectors goes on 1,3,5,7 and the other on 2,4,6,8 (GND on 7 and8)

So on 1,3,5, and 7 you put: VCC1, USB-, USB+, (and one GND)
And on 2,4,6, and 8 you put: VCC2, USB2-, USB2+, (and the other GND)

jaric · 31 Aug 2006 at 22:12

USB should connect something like this

3) Is front panel audio connections. Should be on page 24 in your manual but you would need to change the software setting to AC97 front panel to use these connections. See note at bottom of the page in the manual.

Krands1985 · 31 Aug 2006 at 22:13

Sir Random said:
That's all you need, the layout is shown in that small diagram in the middle.
EDIT\ I'm talking about the Manual diagram posted by op.

One set of connectors goes on 1,3,5,7 and the other on 2,4,6,8 (GND on 7 and8)

So on 1,3,5, and 7 you put: VCC1, USB-, USB+, (and one GND)
And on 2,4,6, and 8 you put: VCC2, USB2-, USB2+, (and the other GND)

Thanks

This is going to sound stupid, but I may as well ask it now rather than later,
Am I putting all 8 of those individual wires(VCC1/2, USB-/2, USB+/2, GNDs), into the one connector on my motherboard? Or do I put the first 4 (i.e the ones in pin 1,3,5,7) into one connector, and the other 4 (2,4,6,8) into another connector. Then the big 10pin one into the third connector on its own?

Apologies for the newbie questions

Sir Random · 31 Aug 2006 at 22:40

Yeah, they all go onto the one connector. I don't know why they don't just use a single 10-socket connector, since most mobos have the same pin layout anyway.

Krands1985 · 31 Aug 2006 at 23:06

Thanks again, I've connected that up now. The audio cables don't actually reach to the F_Audio connector on my motherboard, so I'll have to leave that for now anyway.

Now I have to tidy up all my cables and pray the thing boots!

Sir Random · 31 Aug 2006 at 23:20

Good luck!

Krands1985 · 1 Sep 2006 at 03:09

Sir Random said:
Good luck!

You must have sprinkled some magic fairy dust on me, because everything booted up first time. Installed XP fine (though I did waste over an hour formatting my 320gb 7200.10 by accidentally not choosing quick format

)

Installed all my drivers, windows updates etc. I'll get everything properly customized to my liking tomorrow when I copy across all my data from my USB hard drive.

I'll try out the front USB connectors tomorrow to and see if I did that right. Now I'm going to bed, been awake since 9.30am, waiting for the last bits of the rig to be delivered, as well as having a good long session of computer building

Thanks again for the help

RobK · 1 Sep 2006 at 08:41

For the USB cable you only need to connect the 10 pin block to F_USB1 on the DS3. The little connectors that come out of the back of the 10 pin block I assume are in case your MB has a different pin order than the standard one.

I haven't bothered connecting the audio or firewire on mine but I've connected the USB cable as above and it works fine.

Pookie Bear · 1 Sep 2006 at 09:12

Krands1985 said:
Thanks again, I've connected that up now. The audio cables don't actually reach to the F_Audio connector on my motherboard, so I'll have to leave that for now anyway.

Now I have to tidy up all my cables and pray the thing boots!

I've got the same setup - PC7 and DS3. I had a large block of ten connectors all turned into one big block which I shoved onto the pins just behind the sound plugs on the back of the mobo, sort of between the CPU and PCI-e card.

Now if I could only get my microphone slots to work.....

Krands1985 · 1 Sep 2006 at 15:16

Hmm, I'll unplug those individual one pin connectors then, because I just tried plugging my MP3 player in to both front USB slots, and my PC wouldn't recognise them.

Works fine in the rear ones though.