Annoying firewire problem with case

[Smudg0r]

Hello. New here so pls be gentle
I have recently taken delivery of a Coolermaster Centurion 530 case. Fantastic budget case, looks great and keeps everything nice and cool - quiet too. However, I have one very annoying problem. The firewire port included in the case won't connect to my motherboard - a Gigabyte K8NS ultra 939. The connector from the case port looks identical to the case usb connector, 10 pins with no pin 9. The firewire connectors on my motherboard are completely different one has 10 pins with no pin 7, the other has 16 pins with no pin 14. Motherboard came with firewire ports which fit at the back where PCI slots are and work great, using the 16 pin connector, but I'd really like to use the one on the top of the case. Any ideas? Is there any sort of USB - firewire adapter available?
TIA
Smudg0r
Edit - got the pin numbers wrong

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Both your case and motherboard should have come with instructions. If you lost or don't have them
you should be able to find them on line. My eyeballs are bad enough that I enlarged and printed out the
pages from Intel that covered board connections. This made it much easyer to sit at the bench and do my work.
My case has the USB plug as a one piece deal but the Firewire is individual plugs. I have two F/W ports at
the front of the case, each has four tiny connecters to the board.

Thats all I got. BTW, I have yet to use a Firewire device, maybe if I ever get a video camera I will.


jj

Forgot: Welcome to Anandtech. There are some very knowledgable ppl here.
Be sure and read the FAQ page that Andy mantains for this site. Click on Guides at the top
of this page then select FAQ to the left of Guides. It's filled with non-fanboy info and kept up to date.

 

[Smudg0r]

Thanks very much for the reply and welcome. Yes, I have both manuals and both are equally useless where solving this particular problem is concerned. The only thing the motherboard manual goes into in any detail with this, is to give dire warnings about what might happen if you plug the usb into the firewire connector and vice versa - even though one of the connectors to the firewire socket will patently only fit in the usb connection on the motherboard. This was all confusing enough, but when I then got the case which also seems to have a USB connector for the front firewire port - well I've kinda given up. I've been having a dig around on the web and there seems to be a multitude of connectors for firewire - unfortunately I have a combination which appears to be mutually exclusive.
Thanks anyway and I'll keep looking
Smudg0r

 

[JEDIYoda]

Does your mobo support firewire???


In order to have firewire you must refer to Rule #1.....

Rule #1--- Your mobo must support Firewire in order to have Firewire!

 

[Smudg0r]

It surely does
Like I said before the socket at back of case works perfectly - runs from connection on motherboard - not a pci card. However, the connector for the front firewire port is different and won't fit on either of the firewire connections on motherboard. It will fit on the usb connectors on motherboard - however given the warnings in manual, I'm reluctant to try it and see what happens.

Smudg0r

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Trying to help, I went to Gigabyte's site yesterday and your board is listed but not as a 939ultra. I down loaded the 80 page pdf manual and could find no Firewire plug-ins at all.
They up-grade and change things around so fast sometimes that apperantly they haven't got that info into the manual yet. I don't know how common this is but it happened to you.

Does a Firewire/1394a show-up in the BIOS?? I'm not being funny, if its there you got it!

I would email Gigabyte support and post in the motherboard forum, put your board type and firewire in the title/summery.

When you have a solution, please come back and post in this thread and let us know.

At least you can be up and running w/o a 1394a connection.


jj

 

[Smudg0r]

Yes I definitely have firewire - "Like I said before the socket at back of case works perfectly - runs from connection on motherboard - not a pci card" So I have firewire up and running and working well.
http://www.legionhardware.com/Pics/Gigabyte_K8NS_Ultra-939/Image_00.jpg Pic of the exact one I have.
At the bottom left are 2 USB connectors (the yellow ones) These are 10 pin connectors with one pin absent on the end and I've connected my usb on the front of the case to one of these. Above those (red) are 2 sata connectors and next up the 2 firewire connectors (purple) As you can see they are different types of connector - one is 10 pin like the usb BUT with a different pin set up. The other is 16 pin and I have this connected to a firewire port at the back of the case - working fine. The problem I have is that the connector leading to the firewire on the FRONT of my case, will not fit either of those purple connectors, in one case due to different pin set up. However, if I chose to I could connect it to the yellow (usb) connector as it is exactly the same.
Anyway I think you're right I'll try getting in touch with gigabyte and see if they can help. Apologies if I've not been explaining myself very well.

Smudg0r

Edit: And how very rude of me - forgot to say thanks for taking the trouble to download manual etc.

 

[Bona Fide]

Well you might not have FRONT firewire, just back firewire.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

It's been many years. In the past I have had to deal with The Prince of Darkness(J.Lucus)
Bonny, Conny, AH3000, BugEye etc

I went to Gigabyte UK and found in MB> support> FAQ this pic..Text..If this pci adapter came with your mobo. It would be an easy process to just test the circutry with a test light/ohm meter and transfer those plug-ins to the ones that the case has for the front port.

Just a thought, I know it sounds simple but sometimes the obvious escapes the best of us when we are head banging in frustration.


jj

EDIT: Link no good, I check its properties and it was typed in properly.

 

[Smudg0r]

Have had a reply from Gigabyte and there is a convertor/adapter

"There are two Firewire connector on this board which is F1_1394 (10pins) and F2_1394 (16pins). The bundle cable is for F2_1394 (16pins) and F_USB1/F_USB2.

Please do not mixed up between USB and F1_1394, incorrect connection will damage the board.

If you wish to use the F1_1394 you must have the convertor (attached picture)" http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/7616/firewireconvertor20hp.jpg


Doesn't explain why they bundle a firewire port with a USB connector on the end - I mean why? Must be quite a few motherboards damaged because of this
However, at least I've got the solution now - hope it helps anyone else who runs into similar problems. Just need to see if they'll send me the adapter now - if it's that necessary it should come bundled with everything else

Smudg0r

 

[Zepper]

The header connectors used on front panel ports are standard connectors. You may have to rearrange the pins within the connector to suit your mobo. There are instructions on http://www.frontx.com as to how to remove the contacts from the shell. The case should have come with a pinout diagram for its mobo connector (if not, it is on their web site) - you just have to rearrange the pins to match with the pinout of your mobo connector (in the manual). It is really not all that difficult as only 4 wires are significant for each FW port. There is room for TWO FW ports on a 10-pin mobo header connector with two spaces left over. One of the extra spaces/pins is for the shield ground. And there should be nothing to the other extra space. So for your ONE front port, you will have a Maximum of 5 wires to connect properly (T??+, T??-, Ground, +12 (power), and shield ground. The shield ground is connected to the ground pin that is not part of a pair (pin 10 on the 10-pin header and pin 13 on the 16-pin header. The paired ground pins are for signal grounds.
. I just downloaded the 530 installation guide and the firewire connection seemed quite clear to me. The FW diagram in it matches my mobo connector exactly.
. I also DL'd the mobo manual and see that Gigabte messed up their 10 pin FW connector relative to the standard. In any case, you may only need to shift one contact in the shell (the power (+12) contact) and open the plugged hole in the front panel shell. I use a straightened, heated paper clip to open up those blocked holes in connector shells (but only if there is not a plug in the hole I can remove with an Exacto blade or similar). It could also be made to fit on the 16-pin connector by clearing the plugged hole as above and shifting some contacts around. The labeling is clear.

.bh.

 

[Smudg0r]

Thanks for that. Got a little converter on it's way from Gigabyte so won't need to change pins etc. However you're right, they are definitely using a non standard 10 pin mobo connector for firewire. The case manual is fine to be fair to Coolermaster, just the connector didn't fit any firewire on the motherboard and confused the hell out of me (not difficult, I know )This is the first board I've had from Gigabyte and aside from this annoyance, it's actually rather good.
Thanks again to all for assistance
Smudg0r