On/Off Switch

[Bobby F]

Try not to laugh.

I have/had an HP Pavilion 7940. The power supply died on me. I found what looked like a good deal on a new power supply but is too big for the HP case. So, having an old Dell case - Dimension XPS - I thought I would move the innards to the Dell case since it was big enough to hold the new power supply. Thinking long term, and this is why I saved the Dell case, I am thinking about putting upgrading components to make a new computer and thought the Dell case might work OK for this.

Well, I've got everything moved into the Dell case and all is working. So here is the deal. The "benzel" (??) - front panel of the case has the two button arrangement - On/Off and Reset. The On/Off arrangement on the HP is, I am guessing this is correct terminology, a "momentary" ON/OFF. Right now I have the HP On/Off just hanging out the front of the case - no front cover on yet.

The Dell On/Off activates pushbuttons on a little printed circuit board that mounts on the inside of the front cover and the wires from that go to the motherboard connector. The HP On/Off is just the plastic push button assembly which has 6 wires going from the switch to the motherboard connector. Motherboard connectors are, of course, different.

I could "chop and duct tape" the HP On/Off to the front of the Dell case, but... I am wondering about snipping and reconnecting wires on the HP harness and connecting them in some manner to the physical pushbutton assembly on the Dell front panel.

Seems like I could figure out which to snip and reconnect (bypassing the circuit board) so I could use the Dell On/Off button with the HP harness.

Does this seem reasonable???

I haven't been able to find anything addressing this problem - so it must be simple as hell or nobody is dumb enough to use an old case.

Going to have to probably do some other things like - dummy up the CPU fan housing thing to accommodate the difference physical differences in CPU fan and fan duct. Also have the chassis fan from the Dell which has a 3 prong connector which I suppose I can plug into a "spare" connection on the mobo.

Right now, though, I just need some guidance on what people do when the On/Off's are different.

I can post pix if it would help.

I told ya not to laugh.

[nevermind1534]

The small power supplies for those really tiny HP Pavilion cases are somewhat rare. I saw a few on newegg last time I looked, out of thousands.

[Bobby F]

Yup. And expensive (assuming I get the rebate). That's why I got a big one (in comparison, anyway) - Earthworks 430.

[nevermind1534]

I have one with a working PSU and one with a dead PSU. The new PSU is sitting next to the open case. My cousin's husband had to do the same thing for his computer running xp, since Vista doesn't support some of his programs that he uses for Exxon.

[Luke122]

All you really need to do is figure out which wires in the in bundle from the case front are connected to the power switch, and connect that up to the mobo. It's not a dumb question, so dont be embarassed! It's always better to ask if you are unsure, rather than risk doing some damage.

A picture would definitely help here. :)

[The_Crippler]

The small power supplies for those really tiny HP Pavilion cases are somewhat rare. I saw a few on newegg last time I looked, out of thousands.

Which is why I never throw the ones out that I have. I never know when i might need one again.

[blueonblack]

Personally I've never seen a motherboard with more than two pins for the on/off switch. (I haven't seen them all, though, so don't call that gospel.) They may or may not be labeled on the board itself (likely not on an OEM board). If you can isolate which pins on the board are for the on/off switch you can use literally any momentary normally open switch. I agree with Luke here, pics would be great, especially a clear closeup of the board where the wires from the switch/circuit board connect, and of the switch/board itself.
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