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I have a motherboard I salvaged from a pre-assembled computer. Except now I'm trying to use it in my own custom build. The problem is, this motherboard doesn't have any documentation because it was never meant to be used by consumers (as far as I know).

I need to plug in my case's power/reset/hdd-light plugs into the motherboard. I usually check the documentation of the board to see which leads go to what connector, but I have no documentation for the board.

So, as I see it, I have two options:

  • I find the documentation (I've emailed gateway customer service, but I'm unsure of how successful I'll be with that).
  • I simply test the leads one after the other (can this cause damage if plugged into the wrong leads?)

However, there might even be a standard for which leads do what action (I'm not sure about this).

For reference, my motherboard's SN/MD (?) is:

H57M01G1-1.1-8EKS3H

Does anyone have any idea if I can find documentation or find another way to be sure if my connections are correct?

This is crappy picture of the leads:

enter image description here

ie:

1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 1 1 1 1
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    According to Google, it's a Gateway. Here's what else I found with Google: It's probably similar to the DX4831-01e PC, which could help you narrow your own investigation.
    – user3463
    Jun 2, 2012 at 4:51

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Use a screwdriver and test the pins one after the other. This way you should be able to find the power button pins. After that when you have your computer started you can similarily find the reset pins. I've done it this way a few times and never destroyed any motherboard. But in the end you do it at your own risk.

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  • This is what I ended up doing, it was surprisingly easy. Thanks
    – nopcorn
    Jun 2, 2012 at 18:36
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Some pictures of the header in question might help, but from what i've seen most computers seem to have oddly standard headers despite most systems coming with seperate connectors per header ( the exception being dell systems which have this as a single block, rather than seperate ones).

You should have a set of 9 headers like so

enter image description here

You should probably short the header closest to the blank pin and the one next to it in the same row These are also usually labelled red

I've also shorted pins to turn on a computer randomly in the past, and i've never actually blown anything up. Directed shorting sounds like a better idea to me tho

References

Intel

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  • I added a picture of the leads in my post. My header doesn't match your diagram :(
    – nopcorn
    Jun 2, 2012 at 13:25

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