FireWire connectors on motherboard.

by **dodecahedron** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:26 am

i just recently had my motherboard replaced with Asus A7N8X-Deluxe with Nvidia nForce2 chipset.

according to Asus website this motherboard comes with FireWire. but there are no FireWire connectors on the back IO.

there are 2 connectors (called 'headers' in the manual) for FireWire on the motherboard itself.

according to the manual, the motherboard was supposed to come with what they call a 'bracket', it's like the metal back side of a PCI card (fits into the PCI slot at the back of the case) and i guess that's supposed to connect to the header on the motherboard, and thus give me my FireWire connector. (had the same thing with USB sockets on my previous Asus board).
however i didn't get this 'bracket' with the motherboard.

my question is: are these 'brackets' a standard thing, not proprietary Asus, and i can buy such a thing separately?
are these 'headers' on the motherboard standard? i was thinking this is what must connect to FireWire sockets on cases that have such connectors on the front panel.

TIA

by **pranav81** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:52 am

I had the same problem about USB connector a couple of years before.But I got the connector in the hardware store here.I am sure that you can get the firewire connector in a computer store there.

::Pranav::

by **hoxlund** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:49 am

the fireware wire brackets are not propritary, at least none that ive come across yet

by **dodecahedron** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:22 am

thx

any idea how much something like this costs? can i find them in places like newegg? (i highly doubt i'll find them in a local hardware shop)

by **hoxlund** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:25 am

they shouldn't be more then $5 + tax but yeah little mom and pop computer shops should have plenty might even give you one for free

they get tons of em in when they put new mobos inside cases

newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 752&depa=0

$8 w/ free shipping

by **dodecahedron** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:35 am

cool, thanks for the info!

now the next question:
is there any difference between such brackets (different models/brands) performace wise?
since these brackets are just for hooking to the mobo's connector, i'm thinking there shouldn't be - the controller is on the motherboard, this is just a socket.

by **hoxlund** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:44 am

your 100% correct

by **dodecahedron** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:51 am

thanks for the link as well.

and by browsing there i discovered that my mobo doesn't have a game connector, i have to get a special bracket for it :evil:

hmm...
is this Asus's way of making more money off us?
never mind i might not use a game port anyway...

by **hoxlund** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 12:16 pm

i haven't used a game port in probably 6 years

by **dodecahedron** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 12:40 pm

hoxlund wrote:i haven't used a game port in probably 6 years

LOL then i probably won't, as i guess i game 10000% less than you. :lol:

by **georgeg** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 1:57 pm

Instead of getting a bracket for the back of the PC, consider a multi-card reader with firewire & USB ports, assuming you do any digital photography. They mount in an unused 3.5" drive bay and plug into the header on your mobo. While they cost more than the bracket, they aren't very expensive and at least your port in on the front where it is easy to access.

by **dodecahedron** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:10 pm

thanks for the suggestion

however, i already bought a multi card-reader, an external USB2.0 one.

also, i'm thinking of getting a case that has USB and FireWire sockets in the front.
so i'm not really sure i need one you suggested.

but just in case, do you have recommendations for such a reader (brand, model)?

by **hoxlund** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 4:03 pm

this is probably the ultimate front drive bay:

http://www.coolerguys.com/enmuin1re.html

by **georgeg** on Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:39 pm

dodecahedron wrote:but just in case, do you have recommendations for such a reader (brand, model)?

The reader I installed was the InWin I530. Its a simple device and is currently available from Newegg for $21.00 plus tax & shipping. It has a Firewire port, USP ports and slots for most types of memory cards. Of course if you hook up that portion, each slot shows up as a separate drive but they do show up. The only portion I'm actually using on mine is the USB port. The Firewire turned out to be un-needed for my digital camcorder!

by **LoneWolf** on Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:44 pm

NewEgg actually sells the specific ASUS connectors...I had to check on these for someone the other week.

Did you buy your ASUS board refurbished? I've known several that bought this very model refurb from NewEgg and the connector brackets and cables did not come with The ASUS-brand brackets are probably about $10 each plus shipping. As one of the two people I know also got a defective board, I recommend not buying refurb mainboards, even if it saves you cash. Good mainboards aren't that much more new with all the accessories and better warranty, and when buying the heart of your computer, better to have something new than a Jarvik-7, eh?

by **dodecahedron** on Wed Sep 15, 2004 2:54 am

yeah, newegg does sell Asus brackets, but not the FireWire bracket! i only saw there the USB/Gameport bracket, the SPDIF bracket (and a A/V bracket for the VM model with integrated video).

i didn't really buy the motherboard. the computer was repaired by a computer company that sells and services computers for the university where i work. it was a replacement under warrantee for the Asus A7M266 from 3 years ago (when the computer was purchased). anyway the tech who worked on my comp. said it was a brand new mobo out of the box...but then i only got the manual and support CD, and didn't get other stuff that supposedly comes with the box - another CD with various software, the FireWire bracket etc. i'm not really sure if they're supposed to come with the mobo (Asus's website & manual aren't too clear on whether these are optional or not). the tech said that's all that was in the box...oh well.

anyway i agree about not buying a refurbished board, i wouldn't do that. i've no idea if this board is, but since i got it with the original manual and support CD i suspect not (but who knows maybe i'm wrong...)

i got for free an upgrade from the A7M266 to the A7N8X Deluxe, not bad. if i have to pay for the FireWire bracket, it's still much cheaper than buying a PCI FireWire card.

by **MediumRare** on Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:22 am

dodecahedron wrote:yeah, newegg does sell Asus brackets, but not the FireWire bracket!

OT- have you ever ordered from newegg with delivery to Israel?

dodecahedron wrote:i got for free an upgrade from the A7M266 to the A7N8X Deluxe, not bad. if i have to pay for the FireWire bracket, it's still much cheaper than buying a PCI FireWire card.

That's a pretty good deal. Getting anything done on a 3 year old rig is unusual.

G

by **dodecahedron** on Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:10 am

newegg doesn't ship internationally.

i didn't yet but probably will buy from them in the near future. anyway had stuff bought for me by a friend in the US, and he's gonna ship it over to me.

as for the mobo upgrade, it was very unusual.
the computer system was purchased through the university, so it had 3 years garantee/service. the 3 years were up just 2 weeks ago.
i complained about the monitor, there were some diagonal lines on it (very faint).
i also had intemittent problems with the CPU fan, not working evenly and making noise. also had fan problems from the mobo's chipset fan and the videocard fan in the past. i called them a few times over the 3 years to complain about it and all they did was fix it.
so when i called about the monitor i complained about the fan noise too.

anyway, before the techie came to look at the monitor i checked and discovered to my surprise that both the videocard fan and the chipset fan weren't working!

so they took everything.

as it turned out, the monitor just needed some adjusting.

but as for the mobo/fans etc, well they told me that the capacitors on the motherboard were about to die, so they tried to fix them and it didn't work, so they were gonna replace the mobo!

quite surprising that they would check and fix something that was still working, i must say. and just before the service was about to expire, so they wouldn't need to fix it when it did die!

it was a very long ordeal, all this took place 3 months ago now (yeah it took them that long to get their act toghether - they 'had problems' getting a replacment mobo that is for AMD cpu - bah!). they gave me a replacement mobo, but when i got the computer back i discovered:
1 it's a crappy PCChips mobo
2 it's a microATX, 3 PCI slots, only, no AGP
3 i didn't get back the AGP card! :evil:

4 this mobo comes from the manufacturer already set up with a CPU. i got a Duron 950 instead of my Athlon 1400! :evil:

so i called them up and complained and they said it's just a temporary thing until they find a 'proper' replacement mobo. i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, that it was an honest mistake. i talked with the technitian who worked on the comp, he truely believed that the cpu they gave me was the same as the original, because the fan on top of it had a sticker saying 'Pro 1400+' :evil:

most likely most customers wouldn't have noticed anything, wouldn't have complained. hah - they didn't know who they were messing with! :lol:

anyway it took a long time to get it done but eventually i got the mobo replaced and the computer back last week, with this A7N8X Deluxe - more than i had hoped for

FireWire connectors on motherboard.

FireWire connectors on motherboard.

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