You know those connectors from the case to the motherboard....

[techs]

The connectors that are for the power switch, hard drive light, speaker, etc. Sometimes in my computer shop I have to repair them because the wire came out of the connector housing and I can't jam it back in.
Currently I have to find a connector off a dead computer that has the correct number and placement of the pins, and solder the wires together.
Its too bad someone doesn't sell an assorted package of such connectors, with an easy way to insert the wires.
Or do they?
Anyone know of where I can buy some, or have a better way to fix these problems.
Thanks

 

[Paperdoc]

If you can examine the old connector carefully, you may find that each little metal piece inside the connector body (with its wire attached) is actually just slipped in there after the wire is fastened. But it has a small piece of its metal sticking up like a barb or spring, and that fits into a groove in the connector body so that it is locked in after insertion. With a very fine flat-bladed screwdriver you can sometimes poke in from the open end (or maybe from the wire end if necessary) and push that barb down, then pull the wire and its connector out the back.

Once out you usually find that the metal piece is crimped onto the wire and it is almost impossible to undo that and re-crimp onto a new wire. BUT you can snip off the old wire and solder a new one on gently. Then you make sure the locking barb is sticking up again, and just slip it back into its slot. Make sure you note which way is "up" so the barb does engage in its slot and lock in.

 

[RebateMonger]

I'm surprised it'd be worth it to most folks to pay for fixing those pins. The only pins that are absolutely necessary are the "Power On" pins.

 

[Zepper]

You can get both the shells and contacts for those connectors. One place is http://www.action-electronics.com (better for fair quantity orders). But as was written above, one can usually just slide the contact back in if the shell or the little barb wasn't mangled. There is a little set of pictures showing how to work with that type of connector on http://www.frontx.com under DIY or FAQ or some such.

.bh.