Dell case power button shenanigans

[Nesy]

Read everything below if you plan to answer

 

So I'm going to college this fall, and I'm planning on building a PC in an old Dell case. When I do this I want the power button, Power LED, and HDD indicator to be able to work as intended, so as to make it seem as if this is just a normal Dell computer, but along the way I ran into a few problems. 

 

 

First of all, it uses an all in one custom connector for the power button that nobody has documentation for on the pinout, that's fine I'll do it myself. I'll figure out each wire. 

 

 

So I spend the time one by one testing pins with my test bench until I get the button itself working

 

The power LED

 

And the HDD indicator all working

 

Except one thing is bothering me: The power LED never turns white like it should, it stays orange, but there are no more pins I could possibly hook into on this 6 pin connector (really 9 pin but 3 are not populated) 

 

So I guess I'm really just asking on here if anyone has the very niche knowledge to help me solve this problem and help me make this disguised PC build a little more stealthy when I finally get all the parts in to put it together properly. 

[Nesy]

Sorry in advance about my handwriting on the poorly drawn pinout diagram I made. Trust me I know it's bad. 

[thrasher_565]

you shur is sapos to go white? only thing i can think of is different voltage per led.

so is that like orange standby and white power on?

Edited April 28, 2024 by thrasher_565

[Nesy]

6 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

you shur is sapos to go white? only thing i can think of is different voltage per led.

so is that like orange standby and white power on?

Yep. It's supposed to go white, I found videos of it online with the original Dell motherboard inside and such, orange with the original Dell motherboard usually seems to indicate there is power but but there is some kind of  hardware failure, so I'm wondering what I'am failing to replicate. I'll have to look into it more in the morning. 

[thrasher_565]

5 minutes ago, Nesy said:

Yep. It's supposed to go white, I found videos of it online with the original Dell motherboard inside and such, orange with the original Dell motherboard usually seems to indicate there is power but but there is some kind of  hardware failure, so I'm wondering what I'am failing to replicate. I'll have to look into it more in the morning. 

hmm ya seems compacted for a dell. my guess is the power is  variable thats how it would no. its not like things had a smart chip in it to tell it what to do. (as far as i no...) you might be able to put some small voltage thow it and push the button and see what it dose on a multy meteor but im guessing its a momentary switch? and with out more data wires only thing i can think of. a normal mb wont have variable voltage at lest for the headers.

Edited April 28, 2024 by thrasher_565

[AbydosOne]

1 hour ago, Nesy said:

Except one thing is bothering me: The power LED never turns white like it should, it stays orange

What happens if you flip the power LED polarity?

[Nesy]

6 hours ago, AbydosOne said:

What happens if you flip the power LED polarity?

It just doesn't turn on. Which makes sense, LEDs are diodes.

[AbydosOne]

4 minutes ago, Nesy said:

It just doesn't turn on. Which makes sense, LEDs are diodes.

I was under the impression that the two colors were reverse parallel LEDs (one color one polarity, other color other polarity).

[Needfuldoer]

6 minutes ago, Nesy said:

It just doesn't turn on. Which makes sense, LEDs are diodes.

They're on to something, though. The Optiplex 7010 has two LEDs 'facing' opposite directions, so all they have to do to change the color on those models is reverse the polarity of the power LED pins.

 

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/vostro-desktops/vostro-3470-mainboard-pinout-for-power-switch-connector/647f9bedf4ccf8a8defeee13

 

You might have to take the front button panel out of the case and see how it's wired on that end.

[Nesy]

42 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

They're on to something, though. The Optiplex 7010 has two LEDs 'facing' opposite directions, so all they have to do to change the color on those models is reverse the polarity of the power LED pins.

 

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/vostro-desktops/vostro-3470-mainboard-pinout-for-power-switch-connector/647f9bedf4ccf8a8defeee13

 

You might have to take the front button panel out of the case and see how it's wired on that end.

So I figured it out

 

The answer was a different voltage like thrasher suggested but I accidentally gave it too much and it immediately burned out. It shows orange at 3.3v and I gave it 5v. For a couple seconds it was white before it turned off and wouldn't come on again. Probably should have done smaller increments up. 

 

My own fault but I'm sure I could put my own light into there so I think I'll just do that. One that glows white lol. Probably what I should have done in the first place I just wanted to see if I could do it with what was already there. 

Thanks for the suggestions ya'll, pleasure speaking with you all. 

[Nesy]

Swapped HDD indicator and PWR LED so that problem is solved 

 

Now I just have to find a replacement for the HDD indicator

 

Again thanks for the help ya'll I appreciate it