Basic electical question for hooking wires to motherboard

[Robert Loblaw]

This is such a basic question I feel dumb asking, but I am setting up a new
computer and can't remember and the manuals are minimal help. I am hooking
up the power, reset and hard drive wires. They are all a different color
and white. Which one is positive and which one is negative? The manual for
the case does not say and I know I should remember this from college but I
just cannot. Thanks in advance.

 

[Leythos]

This is such a basic question I feel dumb asking, but I am setting up a new
computer and can't remember and the manuals are minimal help. I am hooking
up the power, reset and hard drive wires. They are all a different color
and white. Which one is positive and which one is negative? The manual for
the case does not say and I know I should remember this from college but I
just cannot. Thanks in advance.

On most of them it doesn't really matter, you can connect them backwards
long enough to test without damaging them. If you only connect them for
a couple seconds and they don't illuminate then you've got them on the
wrong way.

Each case vendor has their own standards for colors and polarity, I
don't think I've looked at a manual for it in years - just connect them,
turn the PC on, and reverse any that don't illuminate.

 

[Robert Loblaw]

Thanks. I alway thought there was a universal way of having the wires, but
I guess I was wrong. I will try randomly as you suggest.

 

[Bob Day]

This is such a basic question I feel dumb asking, but I am setting up a new
computer and can't remember and the manuals are minimal help. I am hooking
up the power, reset and hard drive wires. They are all a different color
and white. Which one is positive and which one is negative? The manual for
the case does not say and I know I should remember this from college but I
just cannot. Thanks in advance.

In my experience, the color that is common to all of the
plugs is negative.

-- Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com

 

[Richard Urban]

Whenever I set up a new computer I always use the manual. I seldom find them
wrong!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Robert Loblaw]

Well the closest the manual says to being helpful is always have the label
on the wire facing the front. Which makes me wonder how they know how all
motherboards are built.

 

[Richard Urban]

For power red is "usually" positive, White/black is "usually" negative. As
far as speaker connection goes it doesn't matter - as long as it works. Even
with the LED's, a temporary reversed connection will just cause the LED to
not fire. Reverse the leads and it will now work. A switch plug - doesn't
matter at all as there is no polarity with a switch in a computer.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Leythos]

As far as speaker connection goes it doesn't matter -
as long as it works.

You may want to check on this one, I was told that on Woofers and some
other quality speakers that polarity does matter. While I have no reason
to suspect otherwise, I've always hooked my speakers up paying attention
to polarity.

 

[Richard Urban]

Right, but inside the computer case you usually have a tiny piezoelectric or
1" cone speaker with 200-2000hz frequency response! A woofer would not
physically fit in the case. (-;

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

Interesting, I am having a similar problem. Well I have played with all
possibilities and still basically nothing. What happens now is the fans
power on for 1 sec and the led's flash and then everything powers off. If I
unplug I can do the same again.

 

[Leythos]

Right, but inside the computer case you usually have a tiny piezoelectric or
1" cone speaker with 200-2000hz frequency response! A woofer would not
physically fit in the case. (-;

Sorry, I was thinking without my logic fuse in place. That let me wander
into general areas instead of keeping me in the protected confines of
this discussion

 

[Leythos]

Interesting, I am having a similar problem. Well I have played with all
possibilities and still basically nothing. What happens now is the fans
power on for 1 sec and the led's flash and then everything powers off. If I
unplug I can do the same again.

The power switch is really the only thing used on modern P4 machines
(home user class) and should be an OPEN unless pushed, once pushed it
will short the contact on the motherboard to signal a power-up
condition. In the old days they used a toggle switch that would maintain
the state until switched the other direction.

Even if you remove everything except the Power switch, and you have RAM,
and Video, it would at least POST - you should be able to get into the
BIOS. If you can't get that far, then you've mis-seated the motherboard
or installed the RAM/Video incorrectly.

Oh, you will need the PSU cables installed properly from the PSU to the
motherboard, but you don't have to connect them to the drives.

 

[Richard Urban]

Don't become like that "other guy" in the power supply thread! (-:

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

Or, you have screwed the bios as I did in the past fooling around with
overclocking! What a trip to get my M/B functional again. And dumass here
did it on his main machine! Hell, I have 3 others I could have played on.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Leythos]

Don't become like that "other guy" in the power supply thread! (-:

You know, if I had a couple beers and a percaset, this would be a great
evening.

 

[Steve]

Well I know it shouldn't be the bios as I haven't been able to get to it. I
know its not the video as I am using the on board video at this point. The
ram can only go in one way so I will rule that out. What is meant by
motherboard not seated right?

Or, you have screwed the bios as I did in the past fooling around with
overclocking! What a trip to get my M/B functional again. And dumass here
did it on his main machine! Hell, I have 3 others I could have played on.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

A short in the computer will do that. A good power supply is going to have a
thermal overload instead of a fuse. When the short overheats the thermal
will open. By unplugging the cord and then re-energizing the computer you
are likely giving it enough time to cool down and reset - till the next
time.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Leythos]

Well I know it shouldn't be the bios as I haven't been able to get to it. I
know its not the video as I am using the on board video at this point. The
ram can only go in one way so I will rule that out. What is meant by
motherboard not seated right?

I was guessing that you installed a motherboard in a case yourself - if
you installed it and shorted out a circuit (electrical trace on the
board) with a stand-off / screw, or if you over-torqued the screws, you
may have a bad motherboard.

If the unit won't post, and you get some LED's for a flash, and no beeps
(connect the PC speaker to test), then you either have bad RAM, bad CPU,
bad power, or a bad motherboard (since the video is built-into the
board).

If you check the stand-offs / screws, and none are in the wrong
position, take the computer to a shop and have them test it.

One last thing, if you have two sticks of RAM, and your board supports
booting with just one, try it with just one.

 

[SS]

Steve:-
If I understand correctly you say that you get momentary power to the fans
and the LEDs and then nothing.
Unplugging and replugging the power cable to the case repeats this.

If this is correct then you still haven't pushed the power button on your
case after plugging in the power cable.

SS

Well I know it shouldn't be the bios as I haven't been able to get to it.
I know its not the video as I am using the on board video at this point.
The ram can only go in one way so I will rule that out. What is meant by
motherboard not seated right?

 

[Tim]

It can also be shorted Reset switch or Power switch.