I just completed such a project on my
own. I bought a generic ATX case on eBay. Installation
was pretty easy. I just popped the mobo and drives and
cards out of the old one and stuck 'em in the new one.
But, there are two problems I am engineering solutions
to on my own:
1. The wires from the power button and LEDs on the case
did not directly connect to the motherboard. For now I
have the old eMachine "nekkid" power switch sticking out
of the extra 3.5" floppy bay. If I find the schematics
to wire it up right and get brave enough to solder I
will connect the leads. Right now it's just a minor
problem.
2. If you have a front mounted game port/USB port like I
use to, you need to make sure the case you get will have
this feature. Again, I will have to get brave enough to
solder. My plan is to cut holes to match the game and
USB port into the extra 3.5" coverplate, then mount the
circuit board to that. However, this is where my power
switch is sticking out :). I will probably drop the
issue since I already have a USB hub plugged into the
back to handle all my stuff.
Other things to consider:
A. Your stock floppy is probably faceless (my eTower's
floppy face was part of the case), so I bought
second-hand one with a face instead (purely cosmetic)
B. Your stock CD-ROM face may not play well with a new
case. It's just a little bit wider than a normal face,
so you will have to put the front of the case in before
you install the CD-ROM (You will likely need to remove
the front of the case to connect your power switches and
LEDs).
C. If you get a case without a power supply, and you
elect to use the eMachine PS you may have to do some
minor contruction to get it to stay in place. Comparing
the two, my 500ix PS is smaller. Fortunately, your
eMachine case will make for an excellent supply of scrap
metal...
All in all I am glad with the results. I have a lot more
room. I know what I said about the eMachine cases before
but jury-rigging a mount for my hard drive just didn't
seem worth it, especially considering the deal I got on
the case.
=================================================================
Addendum
I've learned a little
more since.
I did fix the issue with my power switch on the case. I
found the actual users' manual for the Florida mobo, and
I bet it's similar for others' mobos so I'll pass on the
knowledge.
eMachines, in their efforts to reduce costs, has a
custom-build cable the combines the functions of the
power switch, power light, and HDD access light. The
case I bought has separate cords for these things, and
in addition has a reset switch, and a cord plugging into
a speaker. Using the pin diagram I found in the User's
Manual for my Trigem Florida motherboard, I found how
the cords to the case supplant the custom "mega" cord
from the eMachines case.
It looks something like this:
123456789
ooo oo oo
1 Vcc
2 PM Indication
3 GND
4 KEY
5 Vcc
6 HDD Access
7 KEY
8 Power On Switch Signal
9 GND
In my case, there are 22 pins total [in the Indicator
Header, only 9 of which can be used] but this is the
portion you can actually connect stuff to. So with the
generic case, the pins 1,2, and 3 work for your Power
Indication, 5 and 6 work for HDD access indication, and
8 and 9 are for your power switch. I think pins 10-
22 is where other motherboards have their speaker and
reset switch hook-up, on top of whatever else if
available (a reset switch for my eMachine? Hoping
against hope-- maybe I get to solder after all).
So all I had to do was connect the plugs and I was good
to go. For some reason I didn't get my power and HDD
light but oh well, I can see my computer screen and hear
my hard disk anyway...
Just a tip for reading when you find your appropriate
pin diagram, Vcc is the applied voltage coming from your
board, GND means the ground (return path), N/C means
"not connected" (no use, should be no pin in there), and
"Key" means the plug should have a filled-in place to
idiot-proof the plug.
My saga with a front-mounted USB/MIDI port rages on, but
I am pretty lazy right now. I'm in a crunch to get some
certifications at work complete by an arbitrary date and
it wears me out. I did, however, rescue the "Intel
Inside" Celery decal and the "eTower 500ix" badge and
slap 'em on my generic box. Pretty cool looking.
Thanks to fcolari for
this article
Simple Solution for
your front mounted game and usb ports
......I have moved everything into a cheesy metallic
purple ATX case, but with no place to put the front
mounted USB and game ports -- which is your problem as
well. You don't need to do any cutting to have those
back -- just buy a mediabay, I've included an image that
came from Cyberguys (http://www.cyberguys.com) web site.
The model is # 202 0710. Note that they make more than
one model. The image of the model I'm using is only
available in beige, but includes two usb ports, audio
ports, one firewire port, game port and a volume
control. The other model they sell (# 202 0725) can be
had in Black, but does away with the volume control, but
has a temperature gauge, and another version does away
with the temperature gauge, but has a ps/2 mouse and
keyboard port. Just plug the header from your old
emachine joystick and usb interfaces, attach the metal
bracket they fit in somewhere inside your box, and plug
the appropriate cables in......[I] decided that the best
thing is to mount the metal bracket holding the gameport
and usb port on the back of the pc, instead of mounting
inside the case. I found a suitable spot, drilled two
holes, and mounted it with sheet metal screws. It
doesn't look bad -- and besides, it's on the back, where
it doesn't matter. I routed the ribbon cable thru one of
the empty card slots.
Thanks to Hal for this
info
I was reading [this]
article on putting this motherboard in a non eMachines
case and [the] difficulty connecting the front USB port
and were considering a modification to the case. I have
good news, this isn't necessary. I recently took this
board and placed it in a non eMachines case and the
hardest part was to figure out the hook up for the front
USB port with the ports on the front of the new case
(you can only hook up one). I downloaded the manual and
found the schematic for the USB pinout. It is a little
different than the majority but is still only four (4)
wires. Once I configured the four wires according to
the pinout and two (2) double wire connectors I plugged
them in and tested the port with a really cheap
peripheral and it worked perfect.
Thanks to
AS Jr.for this info
|
Unofficial eMachines Tech Info