Tech guy needed.....

[TimeKeeper]

My case has two front USB port.
but my motherboard has only one USB header left.

Is it safe and possible to "merge" two front USB connector into one and plug into the motherboard?

thanks,

 

[Zepper]

No. If you need more ports in the front, get a USB hub and plug it into the one port. There might even be a USB hub that can be mounted into a drive bay. And some USB keyboards have a USB hub built in.
.bh.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: TimeKeeper
My case has two front USB port.
but my motherboard has only one USB header left.

Is it safe and possible to "merge" two front USB connector into one and plug into the motherboard?

thanks,

No! Definitely not! They will not work, and might burn something out.

A better solution, would be to just wire one of the front-panel jack in, and cover over the other one, and then use an external mini USB hub plugged into that port, if you need more ports.

Alternatively, you could take apart the mini USB hub, and re-wire it, running the upstream connection to the mobo's USB header, and running the wires from the two front USB ports to two of the downstream USB ports on the hub.

That would probably be a lot of work though, for not a lot of gain, since in either case, you would be sharing the USB bandwidth of all four downstream USB ports, on that single mobo USB connection. Plus, leave the USB hub intact and external, would allow you to connect 4 devices, instead of just one. The only advantage would be the mechanical stability of having two USB ports affixed directly to the case, instead of hanging off of a hub.

 

[TimeKeeper]

thanks guys......... I better put away my wire splitter. 🙂

 

[3chordcharlie]

you say there's only one header 'left' does this mean there are more, but you are already using them?

Why not hook up the front ports with two headers, and if you need more rear USB, buy a cheap pci usb or usb/firewire card?