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Motherboard compatibility with a Presario 4400US case

B

blackrain

Golden Member
I have gutted a Compaq Presario 4400US case (the psu and mobo were blown) and would like to reuse it to put together a new system. There's only two issues as far as I can tell (if you can think of anything else, please let me know)

First, its a microATX case. Are all microATX cases the same? In other words, can I fit any microATX board into this case?

Here's a few pics including the location of the screws circled in red:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/P2210039.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/P2210042-edited.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/P2210074.jpg


The second issue is the switches and LED indicators. The Presario 4400US came with a single plug or connector that connected to PWR, YEL/GRN, HDLED, RESET, SLEEP, and IRDA, instead of all separate connectors (17 pins in all). There's also a separate Front USB header which is not an issue because it is separate. Here's a picture of what I am talking about:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/P2210061.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/P2210063.jpg

So lets say for example, that I wanted to use Abit KV-85 mobo. It has a panel1 with 9 pins. The pins are arranged in a similar fashion to the Presario 4400US (the RESET and HDDLED are next to each other one one side) and the MSGLED is next to the PWR on the other side. I am assuming that the MSGLED is the same thing as the YEL/GRN on the Presario 4400US.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/page16fromkv-85.jpg

(You can download the manual from abit's website and go to pages 16-17)

So the portion of the connector which would ordinarily plug into YEL/GRN, PWR, and SLEEP on the Presario will only plug into MSGLED and PWR on the abit board. I guess that would be fine than.

There's actually only 8 wires going into the black connector (black, white, green, yellow, blue and red).

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/P2210063.jpg

The 6 wires are divided into 2 wires for PWR, 2 wires for YEL/GRN which go out to one of the LEDs on the front of the case, and 2 wires for HD/LED. The rest of the black connector appears to be hollow. So I am assuming that this will be fine to use on the abit KV-85 or any other motherboard with a similar PWR, LED, and HDLED arrangement.


 
Well, any microATX board should fit, but you'll need to rewire the front panel connectors. You can just push the pins out of the block from the side with a needle and rearrange them however you need them.
 
Originally posted by: pkrush
Well, any microATX board should fit, but you'll need to rewire the front panel connectors. You can just push the pins out of the block from the side with a needle and rearrange them however you need them.
Click to expand...

Will I still need to rewire in lieu of my Edit comment?

Edit: Looking at the actual connectors again, I may have been a bit hasty. There's actually only 8 wires going into the black connector (black, white, green, yellow, blue and red).

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/realiso/P2210063.jpg

The 8 wires are divided into 2 wires for PWR, 2 wires for YEL/GRN which go out to one of the LEDs on the front of the case, and 2 wires for HD/LED. The rest of the black connector appears to be hollow. So I am assuming that this will be fine to use on the abit KV-85 or any other motherboard with a similar PWR, LED, and HDLED arrangement.
 
Well, considering you already know what 6 of the wires are - HDLED, PWR(Switch) and RESET - that stands to reason the other wires YEL/GRN are power LED. Your abit mobo calls the power LED the MSGLED because I believe it has a feature to blink the power LED if you have message waiting or whatever.

What I would do (and have done - it works) is what pkrush said: Use a needle to lift the plastic tabs on the side of the block and pull the wires out. Then put the block on the mobo so it covers the pins. Then, pull the case front panel off and trace the wires to each of their switches/leds to be sure. I also recommend tagging each pair with a small piece of masking tape. Finally, plug each wire into the hole in the block corresponding to it's spot on the mobo.
 
I'm not sure I understand why I am have to change anything (per my "edit"). The "block" contains 6 wires (2 for PWR, 2 for HDLED, and 2 for YEL/GRN). The 2 wires for PWR line up perfectly with the PWR pins. The 2 wires for YEL/GRN line up perfectly with the MSGLED pins and the 2 wires for HDLED line up perfectly with the HDLED pins. Can you clarify which wires should be changed in position?
 
Originally posted by: blackrain
I'm not sure I understand why I am have to change anything (per my "edit"). The "block" contains 6 wires (2 for PWR, 2 for HDLED, and 2 for YEL/GRN). The 2 wires for PWR line up perfectly with the PWR pins. The 2 wires for YEL/GRN line up perfectly with the MSGLED pins and the 2 wires for HDLED line up perfectly with the HDLED pins. Can you clarify which wires should be changed in position?
Click to expand...

Oh OK, I just misread your previous posts - I didn't realize the wires lined up perfectly for the Abit mobo. In that case, the only thing to worry about is if the polarity matches. If it doesn't, all you'll need to do is remove the offending wires, swap them, and put them back into the block.
 
How do I determine the polarity? Abit and other manufacturers do a pretty good job these days with their manuals but I have no idea what the polarity is on the connectors in the compaq 4400US.

I also noticed that several gigabyte boards have a similar arrangement as well. Perhaps all of these boards follow the same standard arrangment. Has anyone ever found the arrangement to be the same but the polarities switched?
 
If the polarity is wrong, the LED simply won't light. It doesn't matter for things like the power button or reset switch. Just plug it in and see, if the LEDs don't light, switch the wires in the block.
 
Are you reusing anything besides the case? I reused a case, keyboard, and mouse from a Presario 7110US, and the keyboard created bizarre errors.
 
First, its a microATX case. Are all microATX cases the same? In other words, can I fit any microATX board into this case?
Click to expand...
Should have no problem with a mATX motherboard, but the power supply could either be mATX or standard ATX (probably standard ATX).

The FPIO connectors should follow Intel's FPIO standard. Many motherboards also follow Intel's FPIO standard, others don't. USB pin-out is likely to be funky on a Compaq, if you have front panel USB ports.

My brother had a Compaq Presario 5000US chassis that I rebuilt. Standard mATX motherboard and ATX PSU fit perfectly. The damned front panel USB port cable had the oddest wiring scheme I ever saw. Never did figure out how to rewire it so the USB ports would work properly. I just removed the front USB port assembly, taped the little door closed, and gave them an external 4 port USB hub to sit on the desk.
 
Thanks. The psu died and actually fried the mobo so that's why I gutted it. So need to worry about the psu...i'm going to get another one. I am assuming that I don't have to get a "microatx" psu and that I can get any fortron atx psu.

As far as the front USB port, as you can see in the pictures above, the USB header for the front USB port seems to be ordinary. Its an entirely separate header from the connector which controls PWR, HDLED, etc. I don't forsee any problem unless you see something different.
 
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