The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Dell Laptop Motherboard - Power Switch PCB Solution and Alternatives?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by funk1u0, Jul 30, 2014.

  1. funk1u0

    funk1u0 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Was going to do a project build with the internals of a Dell Laptop. Planned to mount the motherboard onto the plastic from the LCD screen and mount the setup to my home entertainment center to use as an artistic open faced media center PC.

    It was all good and operating outside of the case, than I fiddled with the ribbon connector connecting the power button and LED array trying to swap it out for a longer ribbon, now I'm not sure if its just the ribbon I damaged, if the power PCB is messed up or what...

    Would it be possible to modify the setup and replace the ribbon / PCB setup with something custom wired to the board? I wanted to swap it out for something that was an actual button anyway, but now I'm forced to find a new solution....

    Anyway to power up laptops without the button plugged in?
    Any help on how to wire in my own switch?
     
    funk1u0, Jul 30, 2014
    #1
  2. alexhawker

    alexhawker Spent Gladiator

    Reputations:
    500
    Messages:
    2,540
    Likes Received:
    792
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Sounds like a job for a magic packet ( http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN).

    You'll need the machine to support wake on LAN, as well as know it's MAC address.
     
    alexhawker, Jul 30, 2014
    #2
  3. funk1u0

    funk1u0 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Trouble is I can't even power the machine on to enable the wake on LAN... If I could just jumpstart this thing I could switch that on and this would be a nice option....
     
    funk1u0, Jul 30, 2014
    #3
  4. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    What model of Dell laptop is the motherboard from?
     
    Commander Wolf, Jul 31, 2014
    #4
  5. funk1u0

    funk1u0 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Dell PP29L...
     
    funk1u0, Aug 5, 2014
    #5
  6. t456

    t456 1977-09-05, 12:56:00 UTC

    Reputations:
    1,959
    Messages:
    2,588
    Likes Received:
    2,048
    Trophy Points:
    181
    Yes, it should be possible to jump-start. The connector is small, so it'll be finicky. Bend a small paper-clip and short 2 pins at a time (it's trial-and-error unless you can find the schematics). A power-on button is a one-off deal; once triggered the system remains on. Still needs a switch then (or the wake-on-lan); if you'd leave the pin-bridge the system goes into the 'hold-button=shutdown' mode.

    Have used this on a desktop atx board, a laptop should be no different in this regard.
     
    t456, Aug 8, 2014
    #6
    alexhawker likes this.