Hardware

I see alot of motherboards that have both types of power connectors, the old inline type used on the old IBM AT style boards, and the modular square block type connector. Makers mount both so you can easily connect them regardless of what type power supply you have. I've also seem a large cross section of other connector types, some for connections to video cards, and various types of floppy and hard drive types. Some of the newer power supplies have small two wire cables with connectors for reset switches on either front panel or even keyboard control. Most new system boards have pretty elaborate manuals that detail what all the pins and connectors are for, most of which won't be used, depending on the type case you use.

I haven't seen one of those for ages but they where used to run the Front Panel Display. They where not overly common as most ATX cases by that time has just a couple of LED's and switches on them but occasionally there was a display that needed power.

As for using that Power Take Off for something else this lead only provides a very small power output measured in the Milliamp range so anything that you connected it to would need to draw very little power or you would run the risk of destroying the PS by overloading that part of the circuit and maybe the entire PS depending on how it is constructed. As this has not been used for a very long time most modern PS do not have this lead on them any more so you would have to make sure that the PS itself is in perfect working condition as if it breaks you maybe forever without this again in any replacement PS that you buy. It would also be a great idea to Clean Out the PS as well as these do suffer a buildup of dust and other rubbish which can cause them to short out and die as well as replace the Fan with a new unit just to be on the safe side.

As you no longer see these leads on ATX PS's and the fact that it is numbered P8 makes it sound like a propriety PS used by Dell, HP, Gateway or one of those companies and was built to their specifications so if that's the case it most likely is underpowered to start off with and I personally wouldn't take any unnecessary risks that could destroy a otherwise perfectly serviceable unit.

Col

Gentlemen...
THANK YOU for the timely response and the usefull information. I was doubtful about the PS wire as being applicable but at least now I know generally what their purpose was.
The PC in question is 1 0f 2 freebee ASUS socket 370 Mother Boards (w/p3 cpu's included). I was going build 1 pc & add it to my home network and build 1 for my friend who needs a simple pc for home. They are slightly rare models that have the clrtc solder points for clearing cmos (instead of jumpers) & "jumper free" cpu / clock speed settings. The MB model I used for my friend works great but the MB model I kept is known to have problems that make pc's very unstable.
ANYWAY people are always asking me why I have so many computers? I tell them for CT practice, but mainly because I could never have more computers than there are computer problems.
Thanks again

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