After my bios failure, I have now built my replacement system. Everything is plugged in and ready to go--EXCEPT--the power on/off switch, power led, Hard Disk Activity led and Reset Button.

I think I have found the correct location for each switch "but" they can all be installed left to right, or right to left--ie swapping the power with the ground wires. The mother board manual shows the correct placement with regard to power/ground, but my case wires do not.

Seems to me I have a 50/50 chance of installing each set of wires correctly. What should I do? ((On my previous board, before the bios failure, I was brave enough to just connect the wires, and they all worked the first time--making me think maybe they don't need to be oriented?))

How can I figure out which wire in the two pair sets is the ground wire? Will it hurt the motherboard if I get it wrong?

Thanks. //// bobbo.

ASUS A8V-VM motherboard. Nice surprise bonus is a crash free bios--it can be rebuilt from the cd. That is a load off my mind and makes this board a winner---if I can get it to start?

The mobo manual (as you report) should show what the connector is and which side is +/-
Now look at your case front panel connectors.
Typically they are labeled and to ID the + side you (hopefully) will see a tiny "triangle" molded into the tiny plug end.

Sometimes a magnifying glass is needed to see them.

I've mis-connected front panel leads before, without any ill effects to the mobo.

This things are a pain to connect in some cases (NPI). I use a hemostat to start and then a chopstick to push them in. Bamboo from Sechuan is best...just kidding.
The technique works well for any small mobo header connection.

I've miss connected some to with out any bad things happing... i prefer the guess and check method. Usually they're written real tiny near the connectors on the Mobo though.

jflan==I missed it the first time but went back with my magnifying glass and a BRIGHTER LIGHT--yes, there is a little triangle on each connector. Is that ground or power? On this board, the pins are very accessible.

f1y--Yes, the mother board is clearly marked--its the case wires that have a near invisible triangle. My prior experience tells me that the connections are not polarity sensitive, but its nice to know "probably" no harm can occur on an error===but each motherboard can be different, and I just toasted my bios, so I am very skittish right now.

Thanks guys. Does the triangle mark the power or ground? /// bobbo.

Got the answer--It doesn't matter:

http://www.mysuperpc.com/build/pc_ms..._pn1_pn2.shtml

The other three cables, POWER SW, SPEAKER and RESET SW, can be connected either way. The motherboard manual may still identify one of the motherboard header pins for the connector as ground, but it will still work whether or not it is the black, ground wire that is connected to it. I verified this myself for all three of these cables by trying them both ways. The power switch, reset switch, and speaker all worked with their corresponding cables connected either way. And I also verified that the LEDs do not work when their cables are connected the wrong way around. So for the RESET SW cable in particular, which has one black wire and one white wire, it doesn't really matter which one is ground. It has no polarity so it doesn't matter which way it is connected.

Typically, the white wire is always the "ground" wire, all other colors are "positive" wires. Since the power and reset switches are just momentary (to ground), it doesn't matter how they're oriented. For the LED, the polarity will matter because current has to flow in the right direction through the diode. As for the triangle, that usually indicates pin 1, irregardless of what function it is.

KTL - - the website I referenced said that the triangle usually means the power wire but not always. My motherboard does not indicate any "pin no 1" anywhere==upshot is that it looks like the triangle is meaningless? One of those switch is a black/white two wire set up which is why the author concluded that "it doesn't matter" how you plug in those particular wires.

Are all those drives hooked up and working? /// bobbo

Just installed a Gigabyte P35 DS4 mobo. It came with a detailed instruction manual setting out in great detail all connections to be made to the board. It also highlighted which were + and - .

When it came to my ATX case's reset, hdd and led etc connectors, the white or black wires are ground, and red, purple, blue wires are positive.

It was pretty easy as long as I followed the manual. I'm not an electro geek so I thought it would be best to connect all wires as recommended.

The board works great.

7/9 Your case is better labeled than mine. My on/off switch also sticks 30% of the time. I don't mind sharp edges on the inside of the case, but I do mind sticking switches?

Yes, the gigabyte manual is pretty good, its the cases that offer NO documentation and NO labeling on the wires. That being the case (!) can we trust chinese prison labor to use the correct color codes????

Anyway, what did you do with the unlabeled black and white two wire pair?? ((PS--one website said the wire under the "triangle" should be the power supply wire==but not always.)) On two cases now, I have hooked my wires up guess as guess can and all 8 connections now have been correct. Pretty good proof the polarity of the pair does not matter, but I'm not going to test it.

//// bobbo.

I was making more of a general statement, a triangular mark on a connector typically indicates pin 1.
Just 8 in one machine, 4 in another, the rest are stored away.
Was this really necessary?

No, not necessary. Just a hang-over from Dvorak Uncensored where such comments are tame. More an allusion to poor quality control and non-existent documentation. Don't have to be in jail to follow managements lead. //// Editor--feel free to delete as policy may indicate. /// bobbo.