Relocating a fixed power button...

[Munty]

Ok so I need a bit of advice for the laptop I'm working on right now. It has a push type switch for the power button but it's in completely the wrong place for what I need and due to it's location ON the mobo it's going to be a nuisance to get round.

What I'd like to do is have the power switch on the monitor surround and the current power switch is very close to where I'll be running a pipe or some sort of convoluting to carry the wires from the case to the screen. I can't think of any way to make this work though as I can't imagine how I would be able to displace the action so far.

Any help would be much appreciated, pics of a sketchup of this project are in my sig-link and ideally I'd like the big red OK button to power it up but the switch is way to the left, beneath the big building...

[AmEv]

Hmmmm.....

Do you trust yourself with a solder gun?


You may be able to relocate the button with a few feet of wire.



Don't have wire?
Take a spare IDE/Floppy cable.

[Munty]

Thanks man, I actually went ahead and risked this the other day and it turned out fine! I dismantled the switch to see how it operated and whether I could solder in 2 pieces of wire to simply create a new switch in a different position.

Turns out it's a rather strange switch so it would've been impossible to make anything work on the top of the mobo but underneath it's a simple (if not cramped) 6-pin arrangement, only 2 of which were useful to me.

The switch itself is quite near a hole for one of the mounting screws that I haven't used in the new case so I enlarged it slightly and soldered 2 new lengths of wire to the pins in question, ran them through said hole to get them into the guts of the case and then ran them with the monitor cables from there out to the new position I'd wanted for them!

So it was rather successful really for my first bit of soldering in about 18 months. I'm working on ideas for how to mount the screen itself now which I should've considered earlier as it may interfere with the current look the case has got so far. I have a plan though so we'll see in the week :D

[AmEv]

OK...

Seriously though.
:pics:
Show us!

[Munty]

haha I know I know! I'm in Blighty remember, it was after midnight when I replied here and I was half full of beer! Will upload some more pics today and post them up. Will try an update of the main build thread too but not too much has happened since the last one really!

[Munty]

Got a few pics I took when I did it but they aren't very interesting :p Maybe they'll help out another rookie down the line though so here they are!

Here's the underside of the board, 6 pin arrangement visible in the top. There are my 2 wires and the enlarged mounting hole I've run them through.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/X-Com%20Case%20Build/CaseBuild110.jpg

And here it is from the top where you can see the switch itself and where the wires come out right next to it. The black plug just on the left is where the monitor cables leave the case so the switch wires will go that way as well.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/X-Com%20Case%20Build/CaseBuild109.jpg

Job done :) It's worth noting that this is actually the first thing I've done to the laptop since acquiring it which will prevent me from restoring it to 100% perfect condition at a later date. There'll be a few more snips later on anyway though so it's ok and I don't plan on ever reassembling it so who cares :D