internal usb splitter?

footballstevo75

footballstevo75

Active Member
Here's the situation. I have a pc I am building that has 2 front usb ports, but no header on the motherboard to plug them into. I want to make them functional.
I have a usb card with an internal usb, so I can take a cable and splice it, then connect those 4 wires to one of the usb ports coming from the front. But I will still have one left over, so my question, can I put a splitter in there to wire it to each header pin to make both functional?
 
Perhaps: http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-Firewir...ryZ31495QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/6-Port-USB-2-0-...ryZ44933QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or maybe something here

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1

Not perfect matches, but hopefully will point you in the right direction. I think your best bet of the three would be the first one. You;ll get the un-needed front part too, but can always sell it down the road.
 
Wait a sec, are you referring to your current MoBo, or a new MoBo for the build? I just looked at your Mobo on the Gigabyte website and Newegg. There are yellow USB headers on the lower right corner of the board, near the SATA plugs. What is the brand/model of the MoBo you're going to use?
 
imsati said:
Wait a sec, are you referring to your current MoBo, or a new MoBo for the build? I just looked at your Mobo on the Gigabyte website and Newegg. There are yellow USB headers on the lower right corner of the board, near the SATA plugs. What is the brand/model of the MoBo you're going to use?
Click to expand...

lol, nah I already have them all wired up on my Q6600 rig, this is a rig I am putting together for a needy family.

It is too bad I already bought a usb card with 1 internal slot. But at least the one will work if I just hardwire it together correct?
 
Ahh, I gotcha:) Check out the first link then. Should satisfy all of your USB needs. Do you know what MoBo is going into the new build? Unless it's old, it's odd to find one without headers.

BTW, kudos for the reasoning behind the build! I'm sure they'll be very thankful!
 
imsati said:
Ahh, I gotcha:) Check out the first link then. Should satisfy all of your USB needs. Do you know what MoBo is going into the new build? Unless it's old, it's odd to find one without headers.

BTW, kudos for the reasoning behind the build! I'm sure they'll be very thankful!
Click to expand...

lol
AMD K6 old enough? Yeah it doesn't have headers.
But a stripped usb cable has 4 wires inside, the same colors that the pins coming from the front of the case, so one of them should still work correct? Or is that not going to work because it is hardwired in?
 
Yes, quite old enough :)

As far as what you're thinking on doing, I'm not certain. If I'm looking at it right, you want to take a USB cable (one you would plug into a USB jack), and splice it with the USB wires from the front panel, yes. So, essentially, power the front USB with an actual USB connector attached to an internal card? If that's the case, I don't think it's feasible.

The end of the USB cables will need to be attached to actual headers. Hence, I'd still go with the card in the first link above. It has two header areas so you can connect up to 4 additional USB ports (each can support two USBs).
 
imsati said:
Yes, quite old enough :)

As far as what you're thinking on doing, I'm not certain. If I'm looking at it right, you want to take a USB cable (one you would plug into a USB jack), and splice it with the USB wires from the front panel, yes. So, essentially, power the front USB with an actual USB connector attached to an internal card? If that's the case, I don't think it's feasible.

The end of the USB cables will need to be attached to actual headers. Hence, I'd still go with the card in the first link above. It has two header areas so you can connect up to 4 additional USB ports (each can support two USBs).
Click to expand...
But what do the headers actually do? As far as I am concerned, isn't the same as taking a male to female cable from the internal slot and running it to the front?
 
footballstevo75 said:
But what do the headers actually do? As far as I am concerned, isn't the same as taking a male to female cable from the internal slot and running it to the front?
Click to expand...

The USB headers supply power to two USB *ports*. USB ports supply power to USB *devices*. What you're thinking of doing is using a USB port to supply power to other USB ports, which will then power USB devices. I've never tried that, but honestly don't think it will work at the least, and possibly short something out, rendering device(s) non-operational at the worst.

You have a good heart in doing this build for a needy family. All I'm suggesting is using good judgment and spending another $12 to make it work right.

Another way (not perfect, but it makes sense) to look at it is this: would you plug a surge protector into another surge protector into another surge protector, then have something plugged into every open plug on each surge protector? After a while, somethings going to not power up, and something else is likely to short itself out beyond repair.
 
Yeah I will buy that first one. I just was wondering because I bought a usb 2.0 card off newegg earlier, looks like I will return it and get the first option.

Thanks for all the help guys, yeah running xp on 256mb of ram and an old amd chip will be a little slow, but hey it's a pc and they don't have one
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top