VOGONS

Search

Common searches

Help with HDD LED Header on Motherboard

Topic actions

First post, by Grayshazzle

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Hey everyone, I made another new post just to document my status, I figured out how to get power LED working from the keylock header from the first 3 pins. Now I just need to get the HDD LED working, I got a a 5mm LED kit online that is tested and works with my other machines so I put a blue one at the end of the HDD LED cable. I tested the wire itself with a multimeter and that wire is fine as well (also took just the LED and did every connection combo on the HDD with no light coming up). There are 4 pins on the HDD header but is this even meant for LED?
Also, do I need a HDD plugged into the motherboard to truly test if this light works or can it work without a HDD plugged in? I have yet to find a pinout picture for this kind of header as well. If this does not work then it's totally fine as I have a built in LED on my HDD hot swap bay. Just wanted to see if I could get the HDD case light working for giggles. Cheers everyone and thank you all so far for helping me 😀

Attachments

  • 1.png
    Filename
    1.png
    File size
    1.96 MiB
    Views
    708 views
    File license
    CC-BY-4.0

Reply 1 of 6, by Repo Man11

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

The hard drive LED in every setup I've seen uses two pins, so my guess would be the first two pins with pin one being the hot one (maybe the other two pins are for a power LED and are unmarked?). As far as I can recall, I've never seen a motherboard that lights up the HDD LED even for a moment if there is no hard drive activity, so yes, you do need a hard drive connected to one of the IDE ports for the LED to light up.

"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey

Reply 2 of 6, by Grayshazzle

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-02-03, 00:48:

The hard drive LED in every setup I've seen uses two pins, so my guess would be the first two pins with pin one being the hot one (maybe the other two pins are for a power LED and are unmarked?). As far as I can recall, I've never seen a motherboard that lights up the HDD LED even for a moment if there is no hard drive activity, so yes, you do need a hard drive connected to one of the IDE ports for the LED to light up.

Awesome thank you!

Reply 3 of 6, by Doornkaat

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

While I think Repo Man11's explanation is more likely it's also possible this board has drive activity indication for each IDE channel. (i.e. the header takes two separate two pin LEDs.) I have had boards like this before.

Reply 4 of 6, by PC Hoarder Patrol

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Grayshazzle wrote on 2022-02-03, 01:09:
Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-02-03, 00:48:

The hard drive LED in every setup I've seen uses two pins, so my guess would be the first two pins with pin one being the hot one (maybe the other two pins are for a power LED and are unmarked?). As far as I can recall, I've never seen a motherboard that lights up the HDD LED even for a moment if there is no hard drive activity, so yes, you do need a hard drive connected to one of the IDE ports for the LED to light up.

Awesome thank you!

Think this pretty much covers this and your other thread - Help Figuring Out Motherboard Manual

The manual is Chinese / English but the diagrams are clear enough - found it here https://www.elhvb.com/mboards/pine/manuals/list.html

Filename
PM-V01.pdf
File size
2.07 MiB
Downloads
31 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 5 of 6, by Repo Man11

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Doornkaat wrote on 2022-02-03, 08:00:

While I think Repo Man11's explanation is more likely it's also possible this board has drive activity indication for each IDE channel. (i.e. the header takes two separate two pin LEDs.) I have had boards like this before.

I've never seen a board that had that, but that's exactly the case here. I guess that means there were computer cases that had two hard drive LEDs?

Attachments

"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to General Old Hardware
Close window
Close window