Whoa.. .I'm lost.

[Shadmere]

I've pretty much put together my new computer. (Waiting for RAM to show up tomorrow.) But there's something I'm completely clueless about.

I have cords from my case for power, reset, spkr, and HDD led. And I found those pins on the motherboard.

But they aren't keyed. What direction am I supposed to plug these cords in? Both directions fit equally well, and I'm lost.

There are also two cords for '+' and '-'. I found what looks like the pins for those, but the labeling is very small and I don't have a magnifying glass. It looks like there are two pins for '-' and one pin for '+'. Is this true? Does it matter?

There are also lots of cords for AC'97 and HD Aud. I don't know where to plug these in; but if I don't plan on using my front panel audio connectors (I bought an Audigy 2, I don't even know if those cords will work with that card), do I even need to bother with them? Can I just leave them unplugged?

I admit I don't even know what AC'97 means.

Thanks for your help. =)

 

[augustwest]

LOL....I know exactly how you feel. Took me 3 attemtps of trial and error to get them right. There may be a better way but I had to fiddle with them for awhile!

 

[Shadmere]

Ok.

I just was kinda scared that having them in backwards would like... make something catch fire or something.

Whew!

Thanks. I feel much better now. =)

 

[imported_Imp]

About the cords for the LEDs, I was actually pretty pissed when I saw how poorly labeled they are. However, check your mobo manual for the +, -, ground pins. The wire head should have a piece of plastic with an arrow pointing to one wire, that should be the +. That or the white one is not the + wire. Somehow this worked for me, and they lit up nicely on first boot. By the way, isn't AC 97 the onboard Realtek Audio chipset?

 

[Swufabuda]

As a rule of thumb on every case I have used to build the colored wires (Red, Green, Blue, ect.) are your ( + ) wires...And White or black wires are your ( - ) wires .
Hope this helps...

 

[337]

I've found in the last systems that I've built that the text on the connectors face towards the bottom of the board. Of course, I think all the boards I've used have been ASUS, so that might just be their standard. Other than that, see above posts.

 

[professor1942]

I think I've first put them on backwards with every PC I've ever built... don't worry it won't kill anything

 

[Puffnstuff]

On just about every system I've built in the last 3 years the text has faced both ways on the connectors. You should get the manuals for the case and the mb and match them. This is what I've done and it works just fine.

 

[Shadmere]

The manual for the case doesn't mention these wires at all. ;-)

The manual for the motherboard gives me diagrams of the pins, but doesn't give any helpful information about the connectors. Haha. Oh well.

I guess it'll just be trial and error. (Gonna be HELL trying to get in there and turn connectors around, though.)

 

[HighCalibreHooch]

And we all know motherboard manals aren't going to win any int'l prizes for literature any time soon. Besides figuring out the pins, my biggest pet peeve is 'why do they have to be so freakin small?!' You need smurf fingers to place the pins in that tight little space.

 

[professor1942]

Originally posted by: HighCalibreHoochYou need smurf fingers to place the pins in that tight little space.

Yeah the USB ones in particular give me fits.

 

[Puffnstuff]

You'd think that by now there'd be a standardized plug for the front panel header just like a drive plug or something similar.