Front panel wiring question - Dell server case transplant

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XMan

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
49
91
I'm moving my Dell server from the small micro-ATX case it came with into a full tower so as to be able to expand the number of drives.

I've got a power supply adapter cable to go from 24-pin to 8-pin, so that's taken care of.

Dell's front panel header is a strange proprietary format, though, so I'm down to either hacking the wiring out of the old case and splicing it into the new, or finding some means of adapting it. I'd prefer a more elegant solution, but the system's out of warranty so I suppose it's not a huge deal.

Any ideas or experiences?
 
XMan

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
49
91
Success!

The PowerEdge T30, it turns out, has three cables attached to the motherboard that the system monitors. The front panel intrusion switch can be disabled in the BIOS, so that eliminates the need for one of the three. The other two are a combo power button / LED cable and the USB / audio header jack.

I experimented with jumping pins on the USB header to see which ones detected the wiring harness, without much luck. These are non-standard plugs using 1.27mm IDC pitch connectors (a typical motherboard front panel header uses 2.54mm pitch). I did have a jumper that would fit those pins, but there must be more than two pins that detect the plug. Easy solution: I just removed the USB/audio jack from the Dell case and left it plugged in, tucked alongside the power supply. This left only the power button cable. These are a fairly standard part number used across multiple models, so thankfully the pinout is well documented. I spliced a couple of male 2.54mm jumpers with the power-button wires (in the link in the post above), then spliced the detect wires together using a 26 AWG button splice. At that point, I could plug the standard power switch header cable from the case into my Frankenstein'd connector.

Everything works as intended, and I've got a PowerEdge server in a RocketFish full tower case. This allowed me to bump the number of drive bays in the system from four to potentially 16. I've currently got 6 3.5" drives (8TB, 4TB, and a 4x6TB storage space for my Plex server) and the system is running on a 240GB SSD. The extra space allowed me to install a 4-in-3 SATA module, and I went ahead and pre-wired it with SATA connections and power. Next time I want to add drives, I've got four bays open and don't even have to dig the server out. The RocketFish case also has much better cooling than the Dell case; it has a 120mm fan intake directing air over the main hard drive bays, whereas the Dell case tucked two of the drives up under the DVD drive.

Admittedly, this is a lot of work when I could have just bought an off-the-shelf server motherboard, but I had a lot of the parts lying around, so I'm only about about $50 alltogether. If I ever do upgrade, the Dell can be returned to factory condition simply by re-installing everything and replacing the front panel cable.
 
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daili0802

Junior Member
Apr 3, 2019
4
0
6
Hello there!

I come across this topic because I'm planning on to do the same job of moving a Dell PowerEdge T30 to a 2U case. I don't quite understand by splicing the power button cables. I have a couple of questions, does the power button header on the motherboard fit two 2.54mm pin from jumper cable? How do you splice the detect cable on to them? and is there really a reset function on the motherboard?
Also, I found a explanation of front i/o and power button header pin out from other place for an dell t20, can I apply that to T30?
Thank you much!
 
aigomorla

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
21,019
3,490
126
i once attempted to do what you are doing, but gave up, as dell does have some proprietary connections.
Also the BMI on it, was very picky on the unit i had, so if it was not connected correctly, the board would not boot up even.

Before you even attempt to buy stuff, i would see if you can get the board to post and boot up outside the case on a cardboard box and then go from there.
 
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daili0802

Junior Member
Apr 3, 2019
4
0
6
aigomorla said:
i once attempted to do what you are doing, but gave up, as dell does have some proprietary connections.
Also the BMI on it, was very picky on the unit i had, so if it was not connected correctly, the board would not boot up even.

Before you even attempt to buy stuff, i would see if you can get the board to post and boot up outside the case on a cardboard box and then go from there.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry I guess I'm not technical enough, but what is "BMI" on the motherboard?
I was given a 2u case with power supply and backplane for 8 sas drives, which I am planning on to hook up with a dell h200 hba card. I want to start move stuff over but I found the power button and front i/o headers on the board are dell proprietary, hence the question about how to configure it with jumper cable.
At the same time, I'm temping to buy a 24pin to 8pin power supply adapter cable, so that if I transfer the motherboard over, I can use the power supply unit in the 2u case.
 
aigomorla

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
21,019
3,490
126
oh i dont know why i was thinking you were removing it from a rack.

Then yeah, i guess you wont have much problems, although i would still try to dry boot it outside a case and see if any of those jumpers on the case is something important.

You could also get that fanout you linked and start pulling things out one at a time and see what it controls as in terms of reset switchs and LED's.
 
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