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Cube Switch Modding

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I have tried it about a year ago on a PC motherboard and it worked...

Okay, so if it worked then, let's assume it still works. Did you double check the connection to the mac Mini switch to make sure you know which side is the "return" (i.e. which side is always at the zero volt level)? This must only be checked with the mac Mini off and unplugged and you are looking to find zero resistance between it and, for instance, the zero volt line of your SATA drive (or zero volt line of a USB connection). I would say the "black" connection, but of course all wires in the Mac Mini are black.

Also, what are you using to provide your 5V standby voltage from the Mac Mini?
 
Okay, so if it worked then, let's assume it still works. Did you double check the connection to the mac Mini switch to make sure you know which side is the "return" (i.e. which side is always at the zero volt level)? This must only be checked with the mac Mini off and unplugged and you are looking to find zero resistance between it and, for instance, the zero volt line of your SATA drive (or zero volt line of a USB connection). I would say the "black" connection, but of course all wires in the Mac Mini are black.

Also, what are you using to provide your 5V standby voltage from the Mac Mini?


I have checked and found the return on the mini, and I'm using the purple line from my pico psu as 5V stand by.
 
I have checked and found the return on the mini, and I'm using the purple line from my pico psu as 5V stand by.

Running out of suggestions apart from the board being faulty…..only thing I can think of right now is to make sure then that the return line of the mini is also electrically connected to the return line of the PicoPSU.
 
Thanks for all the help. I'm going to get another switch and try this again, except this time Im going to be super careful... Don't want to kill another mini.
 
You could always try a different touch sensor.

I recently used a capacitive touch sensor on my Haswell Mac Mini build and that works very reliably and was not expensive.
 
I just got another cube switch, and followed the instructions on the original post and it works perfectly!! Thank you so much for the amazing write up and help minihack!
 
I just got another cube switch, and followed the instructions on the original post and it works perfectly!! Thank you so much for the amazing write up and help minihack!

Glad it worked out in the end!
 
Hi,

in 2014 I already used ur PowerMac G4 Switch modding guide successfully. Now I came back for the Cube switch guide, finding, that all the pictures are not shown anymore. Do you know, what the problem is? Is there a way, you could send me the pics anyway? I would also like to conserve the G4 switch guide, as I probably do another Quicksilver ...

Thank you in advance!
Lilly
 
Just in case anyone can't figure out the pinout from minihack's original post, I figured this out as well years back.

Since all of the image storage places seem to purge their files after a certain period, I'll do this old-school ASCII style in the hopes that it will stick around longer...

If you're looking at the back of the touch switch module in this orientation with the white connector on the bottom left and the touch switch area towards the right...

Code:
 _________________________________________________________________
|                                                                 |
|                                              _______            |
|                                             /       \           |
|                                            /         \          |
| [54321]                            *       |    O    |     *    |
|_________________________________________   \         /   _______|
                                          \   \_______/   /
                                           \_____________/

The pinout as I know it (using minihack's numbering scheme) is:

1) VCC (Connect to the standby (purple) line on a standard ATX power supply)
2) NC
3) NC (What minihack called the "command line". I didn't use it for anything.)
4) Power switch +ve
5) Power switch -ve

To ground the module, you need to ground one of the plated screw holes, which I've signified with the asterisks in the diagram.

It's also worth noting that you need to use a +5v power lead that is constantly on, otherwise, you'll never be able to turn the machine on because the power switch won't have any power. So, you will want to take the power directly from the standby line on the power supply rather than from a disk drive output, for example. The standby +5v supply is normally the purple cable (pin 9) on a standard ATX power supply.

Note also that in this configuration, the LED does not act as a normal power light (on when the device is on and off when it's off), but instead lights only when a finger is in the proximity of the switch. The switch itself is a momentary closed switch, meaning that it connects the 4 and 5 leads together when it is touched, which mimics a normal power button on a PC.

In all honesty, though, these days it might be much easier to just use something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HSECH98?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A1U4BIN4HILMPW

Seems like this might be a lot more straightforward, although heaven knows if it would work in the same way or not...
 
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