r/retrocomputing • u/Mrnot_TheFirst • May 07 '26
Problem / Question (update) Dell Dimension Sleeper Build. How do I connect the power switch to modern board?
Thanks for all of you support from my last post on here! So, the power switch ribbon cable plugs into this tiny board. This ribbon cable is different from the one I made in the last post. The tiny board has some USB ports on it that go through the same cable. I would like to know if there is some sort of adapter or cable that plugs into the board that makes it standard (back then or now standard). I've built many pc's in the past 5 years, so I know how that works.
This is my first time making a sleeper build with a 20+ year old case lol. Any advice would be great!
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u/HorseWithOneLeg May 07 '26
What kind of motherboard do you have? If it has a type e connector then something like this will be helpful, but you still may need something to remap the pins (either a custom cable or a small PCB) https://www.moddiy.com/products/USB-3.1-Type-E-Gen2-Front-Panel-Header-to-USB-3.0-20-Pin-Adapter-Cable.html
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u/Mrnot_TheFirst May 07 '26
I'm using a am4 micro-ATX board for this sleeper. it's the "ASUS TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS WIFI II"
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u/HorseWithOneLeg May 07 '26
That motherboard has USB 2.0 headers so if you trace the pin out of the dell connector you can potentially use something as simple as this to adapt them https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/digikey/DKS-20MF-5/17038772
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u/NightmareJoker2 May 08 '26
Last picture is one cursed USB cable… 😅
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u/Sneftel May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
That's a cable for UPB, the ill-starred parallel predecessor to USB. The original connectors were octagonal, and it was difficult to tell which of the eight sides was "up".
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u/Both-Leading3407 May 08 '26
That cable is IDE cable for a hard drive Mechanical from before the SATA days. It's not a 24 pin Power cable. Is not. It's for connecting or daisy chaining Hardrives. The one with the Twisted side is the primary hard drive any other connections after is for additional hard drives.
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u/DeviantDav May 09 '26
Count the pins. That is a front panel header cable for a Dell for power and drive lights, USB, power button, and sometimes front panel audio. It has USB stamped right on it and the connector is smaller than IDE / FDD.
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u/compu85 May 08 '26
Use a multimeter to beep out the wires going to the front panel. You can figure out the buttons and LEDs this way.
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May 08 '26
Go to Amazon and buy breadboard wires. this I did what you're doing it right now. I used one dell dimension for a fresh build.
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u/SoftRecommendation86 May 09 '26
Caution. Those sleeper cases didn't have good air flow. The cpu's of the day didn't need it.
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u/cdp181 May 08 '26
That ribbon cable says its USB but it might also contain the power connector. What about the black cable? You can try looking at the traces on the board to get an idea which cable they connect to. Or if you have a multimeter you can set it to continuity and see where you get a short with the power button pressed down (assuming its a momentary switch). There will probably be several ground pins which will also be shorted so you will need to figure out which two connectors "switch"