Aurora R8 mainboard in new generic case

Question

Hi

In order to furnish a new RTX 2070 graphics card, I've migrated all internal parts from the Aurora case to a new generic case. However, this being an Alienware mainboard, the power jumper is not the generic two pin header configuration, as shown as component 17 in this diagram:

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-au/alienware-aurora-r8-desktop/alienware-aurora-r8-service-manual/system-board-components?guid=guid-1aa62fe8-a3d0-431f-8a59-630897eb11f7&lang=en-us

In fact, the power on for the mainboard seems to come into an "LED Connector" (component 17 from link). Would anybody know the pin outs for this connector, and whether I could isolate the power on headers?

Richard

redxps630 · Accepted Answer

Thanks to another user who posted this. Here is user verified power switch pinout of the Dell proprietary 12 pin LED connector.

Front panel POWER connector from the new case on white 12 pin motherboard header pins 4 and 5 on the R8.

-Front panel power on the white 12 pin connector is: PWR BTN +5V / GRD

R8: 1 2 3 4 5 (confirmed by @Gysper)

From @Gysper testing on the R8: Pin 4 + Pin 5 -

Pin 4 + wire / + wire marked by triangle on POWER SW connector
Pin 5 - wire / - wire on POWER SW connector

redxps630 · Answer

Last time I heard an alien expert commented on this topic that it may be easier to transplant the entire Alienhead  power switch to new case.  Not the most elegant work around.

redxps630 · Answer

same user discussion suggested the work around to get rid of bios startup error which may be what you refer as Dell supportassist assumed hardware issue:

the workaround for a functional case swap for the Aurora R8 without any startup errors.

The startup error is from the motherboard USB headers not being connected to the Dell IO front unit. There are pins that are jumped in the connectors/wiring that the BIOS is looking for on startup. One workaround is to bring the R8 case IO unit inside new case.

Remove R8 case front panel with its USB connector, both blue connector and black connectors, plug them into the R8 motherboard. Blue to blue connector. Black to black connector. Bring the R8 IO connector inside the new generic case.

bring the IO unit into the case, hide it into the PSU shroud. Not the most elegant but at least no more start up error.

this workaround uses up motherboard usb 3.0 headers, so new generic case front panel USB cables have nowhere to plug in (unless user installs a third party usb card).

******************

Another suggested more involved workaround is to jump R8 motherboard usb header pins. This is not verified in R8 but is reported to work in XPS 8930.

corigins1 · Answer

Hi, and thanks for the reply. I was considering using the Aurora cabling, albeit messy, until you posted about pinout 4 and 5 which seems to be working.

I now need to dive into BIOS and somehow disable SupportAssist since now it thinks there is a hardware issue.

Alienware Desktops

Aurora R8 mainboard in new generic case

Was this post helpful?