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RE-ARRANGE ME!!

1. THEROM BORAD
2. TEMSYS TINUT
3. ERWOP TSIWHC
4. CNNOTERC
ACTIVITY
1. What are the ports and switch you found on the front panel on
your system unit?
2. What do you think the uses of those ports and switch?
3. How convenient for us user to use the front ports rather than
back port of our system unit?
4. How we are going to connect those ports and switch to our
motherboard?
 WHAT ARE FRONT PANEL CONNECTORS (HEADER)?
The Front Panel Connectors, also known as
the Front Panel Header or FPanel, is a block
of connectors on a motherboard that control
the power on, power reset, beep code
speaker and the LED light indicators on
your PC case/chassis.

All motherboards have front panel connectors

that a PC case connects to. The cables that
connect to the motherboard come from the PC
case.
Front Panel Connectors consist of small pins that
serve a specific electrical purpose. For instance, for
the Power Switch, there are two specific pins for
connecting the case’s cable to.

Similarly, there are two specific pins for the reset

switch as well.
There are 5 primary functions that almost ALL Front Panel
Headers have:
• Power Switch Pins – Abbreviated as PWRSW or simply
PW – are 2 pins that connect to the Power Button cable
coming from the PC case.
• Reset Switch Pins – are 2 pins that connect to the reset
switch on the PC case.
• Power LED Pins – are 3 pins that connect to LED light on
the PC case that indicates whether the PC is on, off or in
sleep mode.
• Hard Disk LED Pins – are 2 pins that indicate the activity
of the hard disk by flashing repeatedly.
• Speaker Pins – are 4 pins for the beep code speaker. Many
PC Cases come with a beep code speaker. Note that a beep
code speaker is NOT the same as a stereo speaker.
WHAT DO FRONT
PANEL
CONNECTORS
LOOK LIKE?
HOW TO KNOW
WHICH PINS TO
USE FOR WHAT?
THE FOLLOWING IMAGE SHOWS THE LABELS
INDICATING THE FUNCTION OF THE PINS
 THE ORIENTATION OF CERTAIN CABLE
CONNECTIONS DO MATTER
For LED light connectors, particularly, the orientation
of the connection matters.
In other words, you have to make sure that you are
connecting the + terminal of the cable to the + pin and
the – terminal of the cable to the – pin.

Take the following Hard Disk LED cable for instance.

Here the red cable indicates the + terminal and the
white cable indicates the – terminal.
You have to align that with the orientation as shown on
the front panel label.
 THE FRONT PANEL POWER CONNECTORS CAN
BE USED TO JUMP THE MOTHERBOARD
One very important
function the Front Panel
Connectors provide is the
ability to jump start the
motherboard in case if you
do not have a power on
button.

With a precision screw

driver, if you touch both the
Power On Switch pins
together, that would Power
On your PC.
 YOU CAN BUY A SPARE BEEP CODE SPEAKER
FOR THE SPEAKER PINS
Front Panel Connectors
have pins that support a
Beep Code speaker. Most
PC cases do come with a
Beep Code speaker.
In case if your PC case
does not, then you can buy
one yourself separately
and connect it to the
corresponding front panel
connectors.
 HOW TO CONNECT FRONT PANEL USB 2.0
CONNECTORS?

You can find USB pins on your motherboard. They will

have the word USB written under them. Depending on
the manufacturer, USB pins may be indicated
as JUSB1 or F_USB. 

If you cannot locate them, please refer to the user

manual for your motherboard. One set of USB
connectors will have nine pins on them.
 HOW TO CONNECT THE USB 3.0 FRONT PANEL
CONNECTOR?

Unlike USB 2.0 pins, a USB 3.0 front panel header will have 19
pins on them. This can be located from
the JUSB2/F_USB3.0 written near them. To find the cables, check
for cables with the color blue at the end, with 20 slots.

A small rectangular wall-like structure will surround the pins. On

one of the longer sides of the wall, there will be a small gap. To
insert the cable, align this gap with the small bulge on the cable. 
 HOW TO CONNECT THE FRONT PANEL AUDIO
JACK TO THE MOTHERBOARD?

To find the front panel audio

connector, search your
motherboard
for JAUD1/F_AUDIO. Thi
s connector will have a slot
for ten pins, five on each
side, but pin number 8 will
be missing.
 FINAL WORDS

While the Front Panel Connectors may seem trivial at

first, they are the primary channel through which the
system and buttons on the case/chassis communicate
with the motherboard.

Among the most important function it offers is the

Power On Switch for the case button to connect to.
It is important that you consult the motherboard manual
for the specific details regarding the different pins on
your front panel connectors though.
 EVALUATION

Form 8 Groups. Each group should have 1 front panel

of a system unit and a Motherboard. Member of a
group should demonstrate on how to connect the front
panel connectors.
ASSIGNMENT!!!

1. Advance reading on Types

of a motherboard