My (old) case front panel has a 3-pin power led connector (inc. one empty slot in the middle). My (new) motherboard has a 2-pin power led connector.
How do I connect the two? If I try to connect the panel's connector, one pin hole is left hanging off the side. Obviously, the led does not work.
42 Answers
Most motherboards have both the 3pin and 2pin power LED header, I'd be surprised if yours actually didn't. Since you didn't supply you motherboard's model number I can't confirm or deny that for you; check your manual.
If it doesn't, just use an X-acto knife with a fine point on it to gently pry the plastic tabs back, while gently pulling/tugging the wire, to release the wire's metal end from the plastic housing.
Then push it into the middle hole and it should click back in (if you were careful enough when removing it :) ).
You now have the two wires right next to each other, suitable for plugging into a 2-pin header. If the now-empty 3rd hole is in the way fro some reason, just trim it off with a pair of side-cutters.
1If the power LED cable has a connector at each end (rather than being soldered to the power LED), and is in a place where the wire routing is readily accessible, you can probably buy a replacement cable that has the right connector for a few dollars.
If not, a simple solution would be to scrounge a cable with the right connector at the end (they are widely available--purchase any cheap cable with the right connector at one end, or you may have one from an old computer, or you could snip the cable off a broken device). Snip the old connector off the end of your power LED cable. Then splice the wires and insulate the splices. Splicing the wires is a lot easier than messing with the connector, itself.
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