neilhart's Mac Pro Hack

[BIGALuk]

Hi Neil,
Thank you so much for your response.
I've had a look at the MaxConnect and it's quite expensive,
All I want is adapter however I have come across a corsair hot swappable adapter for the Carbide Air 540 case and is quite a good price $4.99 us. (https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categ...rbide-Air-540-Hot-Swap-Connector/p/CC-8930148).

Unfortunately, I'm in England and I'm unable to find a supplier in England, Even Corsair USA will not ship to England.

Thank you very much for your help
Alan

 

[LiveSorcerer]

Hi Neil,
Thank you so much for your response.
I've had a look at the MaxConnect and it's quite expensive,
All I want is adapter however I have come across a corsair hot swappable adapter for the Carbide Air 540 case and is quite a good price $4.99 us. (https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Accessories-|-Parts/PC-Components/Cases/Carbide-Air-540-Hot-Swap-Connector/p/CC-8930148).

Unfortunately, I'm in England and I'm unable to find a supplier in England, Even Corsair USA will not ship to England.

Thank you very much for your help
Alan

Hi, you try this link?

Page Not Found

 

[LiveSorcerer]

The 8 pin connector (see photo) is pinned as

1 - 2 - 3 - 4
5 - 6 - 7 - 8

1 = MSG (green) connect to MB front panel pins - try adjacent pins to the power switch + pin
2 = PW+ (purple) connect to MB front panel pins - power switch +
3 = 5 VDC (red)
4 = 12 VDC (yellow)
5 = 5 VDC (red)
6 = 5 VDC (red)
7 = 3.3 VDC (orange) (I did not have an orange marker - shown as black in the photo)
8 = Grd (black)

Some illustrations found on the web use an alternate pin count orientation...


The front panel audio is fairly simple. The original front panel audio cable (see photo) uses a small flat connector. This connector is keyed and will mate only one way.

The Front panel audo connector, looking down at it is pinned out from left to right:

1 - purple (sense) no connect
2 - red (ground) to pin 2 of the ATX Audio connector
3 - black (left channel) to pin 9 of the ATX Audio connector
4 - grey (right channel) to pin 5 of the ATX Audio connector
5 - balck (shield ground) no connect

The ATX Audio connector is pinned out:

10 9 - left channel
8 7
6 5 - right channel
4 3
common - grd - 2 1

As I recall I wired this and tested it and felt lucky that I got right and left channels straight the first try. This is from notes taken in June and I think that they are correct.

neil

I'll follow this step by step when I'm going to build mine.

 

[cbphx]

The front panel audio is fairly simple. The original front panel audio cable (see photo) uses a small flat connector. This connector is keyed and will mate only one way.

The Front panel audo connector, looking down at it is pinned out from left to right:

1 - purple (sense) no connect
2 - red (ground) to pin 2 of the ATX Audio connector
3 - black (left channel) to pin 9 of the ATX Audio connector
4 - grey (right channel) to pin 5 of the ATX Audio connector
5 - balck (shield ground) no connect

The ATX Audio connector is pinned out:

10 9 - left channel
8 7
6 5 - right channel
4 3
common - grd - 2 1

As I recall I wired this and tested it and felt lucky that I got right and left channels straight the first try. This is from notes taken in June and I think that they are correct.

neil

Hi @neilhart, I was wondering if you have tested the front panel headphone jack with Mojave? I spliced the Mac Pro audio cable and attached individual ends so I could connect ground, left, and right to the pins on my ASUS ROG Z370-G front panel pins, but get nothing from the front headphone jack even with switching from internal speakers to line out and trying each layout ID. Also tried a second front panel board (2009 Mac Pro) and still no audio from the headphone jack. Anything special you’re doing aside from connecting red, black, and gray? Thanks!

 

[neilhart]

No I have not loaded Mojave on the my Mac Pro hack as it is gathering dust on a low shelf for the last few years.

You asked about Mojave, have you tried High Sierra? I assume that the rear panel audio jack works as if it does not work then your front panel jack has little chance of working.

If I was working this issue, I would make up a 10 pin jumper cable and attache it to motherboard HD Audio header and make sure that audio is present when your system has audio at the rear port.

Good modding,
neil

 

[eGoodchild]

Front panel and wiring (includes the USB/Firewire board).

Okay the credit here goes those that have gone before and documented the task.
The most recent documentation is/was provided by mooner (see page two of his thread here in this section of TonyMacX86). Adding the 5VDC lines to the 8 pin connector per his directions fixed the USB ports. Power button and power LED work with this documentation.

The front audio port is via three wires selectively pinned out to the MB Audio header. Note the front audio has to be selected in the Audio Preference Pane to be functional. Auto detecting switching audio ports would be desirable.

The FireWire 400 and 800 ports are functional. This is achieved by cabling to the PCIE FireWire/USB port adapter card (BYTECC PCIE USB/Firewire card, BT-PEFWBU2 sourced from Newegg). Note for the front FireWire ports to function correctly I had to provide power to the 4 pin connector on the PCIE card.

Also note that there is 3.3VDC to the 8 pin connector.

The plus of using this card, besides the front FireWire ports are the extra rear ports.

Hey @neilhart - trawling through this archive on my first Mac Pro build. Can you provide a link to what this is? I assume a SAS gender changer or SAS to SATA adapter?

 

[LiveSorcerer]

This link:

maxupgrades.com: MaxConnect SAS/SATA Link with MiniSAS- 4x SATA Cable for Mac Pro 2006/ 2007/ 2008

default site description goes here

www.maxupgrades.com

 

[neilhart]

This link:

maxupgrades.com: MaxConnect SAS/SATA Link with MiniSAS- 4x SATA Cable for Mac Pro 2006/ 2007/ 2008

default site description goes here

www.maxupgrades.com

Yes that is the part. I have seen the 4 into 1 SATA cable elsewhere on the web, but never the "Link" device.
If you go this way, you will need the Apple cabe assembly for the 4 HDD drive slots as it has the correct connector to mate to the "Link".

Good modding,
neil