Help: connecting internal Firewire to front panel

[Vosje]

Hello! I'm very sorry if my question sounds stupid, but I just wanted to make sure everything is right, because I'm slightly afraid of frying my PC... My motherboard has no Firewire, so I installed a PCI card which works perfectly, but it's very inconvenient because the ports are located on the back, so you keep climbing under your desk. My PC case, however, does have a Firewire port on the front panel, which was never active, but I would really want to connect it to my PCI card. The problem is that my PCI card does have an internal Firewire port, but it looks nothing like the wire which goes to the front panel: http://i43.tinypic.com/xt99l.jpg There are adaptors available which are supposed to help me solve this problem and convert between two different connectors and I've found this one which seems to fit my needs: http://www.onyougo.com/antec-firewire-internal-adapt…_iph3w0771369.jpg It has the following layout: 1. TPA + 2. TPA - 3. Ground 4. Ground 5. TPB + 6. TPB - 7. +12V 8. +12V 9. Key (no pin) However there's one thing that makes me doubt... My front panel connector does have 9 holes which will fit upon the pins of the adaptor, BUT! There are only 8 wires attached to the holes, as in, one hole is completely EMPTY. It corresponds to the +12V pin, so when I connect the adaptor to the front panel only one +12V pin will actually be connected, the other won't do anything at all... Is that normal??? Can I use this adaptor without being afraid of frying my PC??? Thank you very much for your time!!!

 

[Ketchup]

I don't know why the card maker felt the need to put an external connecter on the inside part of the card. Anyway, all the cable would do is carry the signal from the connector on the card to the case connector, so I don't see how that would fry anything. Should work as long as the quality of the cable is decent.

 

[Vosje]

Hi! Thank you very much for your quick answer. Well, I was kinda afraid because +12V sounds like power to me, and with one power pin unattached, I just was wondering whether it'll be ok. I mean, why would it be there anyway (the pin) if it isn't used??? But I'm glad to hear that it should work, because I already ordered the adaptor and only got second thoughts after that...

 

[Ketchup]

Forgive my answer, but I don't exactly understand the question. All firewire requires the power connections you listed. It would be just like plugging into the motherboard if it had the connection you need. And all connectors are made so that they were only go one direction, to avoid plugging them in wrong.

The only thing I would suggest is to make sure the adapted cable has a strong connection on both ends. Maybe even use some electrical tape. If the connection is loose, and gravity does its thing, I could see potential issues there.

 

[Vosje]

Uhm, well, lemme try to explain it again: the adapter has 9 pins and the connector to the front panel has 9 holes which will fit the pins, BUT it only has 8 WIRES attached to the 9 holes. One hole is empty - there is no wire coming out of it. So effectively, only 8 pins out of 9 will actually be connected. And the missing wire corresponds to the +12V pin (which there are two of). So that's why I have my doubts, why aren't there either 8 pins of 9 wires attached to the holes?

 

[Ketchup]

Gotcha. Read this:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/firewire4.htm

....the third added pin does nothing at this time

 

[Vosje]

Oooh, okay! Thank you very much for the link. It all should be good, then! Thanks for your time helping me out.

 

[Ketchup]

Glad to do it. I hope you enjoy your time in the forums. They are the best!

 

[Paperdoc]

I agree with ketchup79, you have not problem. The common 6-contact connector for Firewire 400 cables (like the ones on the exterior back of your Firewire card AND the one on the front of your case) have only 6 connections points - the two pairs of signal wires, ONE +12 VDC supply, and ONE power Ground. (Cable shield Ground probably is on the same Ground as power.) So, although the standard 9-pin mobo output connector for Firewire has 9 pins including 2 for +12 VDC, they are not both needed to feed the external connector.

I actually made my own adapter for this some years ago - so long ago I forgot the details. I just bought a standard Firewire connector cable, looked up the pinout details, cut one end off the cable, and soldered wires from it to the Firewire front panel connector terminals. As I recall it worked just fine.

 

[Vosje]

Paperdoc, thanks for your input! Wow, it's really cool when you're so handy that you can make something like this with your own hands! Sure saves the trouble of doubt when you know exactly what you're doing.