Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
This section has figures and tables showing the configurations and pinouts of most of the other
interface and I/O connectors you will find.
See the
Chapter 18
section, “
AT/LPX Power Supply Connectors
,
”
p.
870
.
See the
Chapter 14
section, “
Serial Ports
,
”
p.
730
,
and “
Parallel Ports
,”
p.
734
.
See the
Chapter 15
section, “
Keyboard/Mouse Interface Connectors
,”
p.
751
.
See the
Chapter 14
section, “
Universal Serial Bus (USB)
,”
p.
704
.
See the
Chapter 7
section, “
An Overview of the IDE Interface
,
”
p.
377
.
One of the biggest problems many people overlook when building and upgrading systems is the front
panel connections. Connectors that don't match between the motherboard and chassis are one of the
small but frustrating things that can be problematic in an otherwise smooth upgrade or system build.
Having dependable standards for these connections would help, but unfortunately no official standard
for the front panel connectors existed until October 2000, when Intel published the “Front Panel I/O
Connectivity Design Guide.” You can find the latest version of this guide, along with the motherboard
form factor specifications, at
www.formfactors.org
.
Before this standard was published, no official standard existed, and anarchy ruled. In addition, even
though most chassis gave you individual tiny connectors for each function, some of the bigger system
builders (for example, Dell, Gateway, and others) began using specialized inline or dual-row header
connectors so they could build systems more quickly and efficiently. Coincidentally, most of those
vendors used Intel boards, hence Intel's development of a standard.
The front panel guide details a 10-pin keyed header connector for the main front panel switch/LED
functions, as well as a 10-pin keyed USB header, a 10-pin keyed IEEE 1394 (FireWire/i.LINK)
header, a 10-pin keyed audio header, and a 6-pin keyed IR header. The pinouts and configurations of
4.31
details the front panel switch/LED header connector.
Figure 4.31. Front panel switch/LED header connector.
The pinout of the standard front panel switch/LED connector is shown in
Table 4.37
.
Table 4.37. Front Panel Switch/LED Connector Pinout
