Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
To adapt the connectors in your chassis to those on your motherboard, in some cases you need to
change the connector ends by removing the terminals and reinserting them into different positions. For
example, I had a chassis that used a 3-pin power LED connection, whereas the motherboard had only
a 2-pin connection. I had to remove one of the terminals, reinsert it into the middle position on the 3-
pin connector, and then plug the connector into the motherboard so that two pins were mated and the
third empty position was hanging off the end of the connector. Fortunately, the terminals are easy to
remove merely by lifting a latch on the side of the connector and then sliding the terminal and wire
back out. When the terminal is inserted, the latch automatically grabs the terminal and locks it into
position.
Most motherboards include USB connectors (also called USB headers), which are designed to be
connected to front-mounted or rear bracket USB connectors in the chassis. There are two standards:
one for USB 1.1/2.0 ports, and another for USB 3.0 ports. USB 1.1/2.0 headers use a single 10-pin
keyed connector to provide two USB 1.1 or 2.0 connections. The pinout of a standard dual USB
1.1/2.0 motherboard header connector is shown in
Figure 4.35
and
Table 4.41
.