Proprietary Fun

When I ordered the Dell T1700 motherboard I asked the seller to include several items, which he kindly did for free. I had researched that I needed them to make this motherboard work correctly.

The items, a metal box, which has front audio and USB connectors, the black power switch assembly and not shown, a chassis thermal sensor. In addition there is an intrusion switch and internal speaker that may also be needed, but I have those from the Dell GX620 I took apart recently.

The power switch has an LED built in and connects to a 5 pin socket on the motherboard, there are ways to use a conventional 2 pin power switch (from the case) which I will be working on, but if the pins that power the LED are not considered, there will possibly be a startup error.

The front I/O panel also is checked by the startup process and the motherboard will not POST without the connection, I think it has standard USB connection which I may modify, but I will keep the panel inside the case and report back with the progress of the build.