X8SIL-F and front panel on Norco 4220

[ratmice]

Can anyone explain in complete laymans terms, how the connections from the MoBo connector to the front panel are made. I have everything hooked up like I think it should be, but no indicator lights are active on the panel and the only button that works, is the reset button, but it works like the power button should.

 

I'm obviously doing something stupid, but I haven't been able to get it working. Ive doublecheked the connections and i cant see the problem.

 

Or does the front panel stuff even work with this combination of components?

[Rajahal]

That's definitely one downside of Supermicro boards - the front panel pin connectors are not labeled on the board at all.  They are very easy to get wrong.  The correct settings are detailed in your motherboard's manual.  If you don't have your manual, I can spell them out for you when I get home from work tonight.  Normally I would just download the manual from their website, but the download link appears to be broken (or it could be that my work firewalls are blocking it...).

 

 

Edit: Nevermind, I tried the link again and it worked this time.  Here's the pertinent info:

 

 

In plain English:

 

The pins closest to the CPU are the 'top' pins, which Supermicro numbers pins 16 and 15.  The pins closest to the SATA ports are the 'bottom' pins, which Supermicro numbers pins 2 and 1.

 

The top pins are for the Power light (optional...I think it will be pretty obvious when the server is powered on or off)

The second row from the top is for the HDD light (optional...I generally leave this unplugged as HDDs in the server are almost always active)

The third row from the top is for the first ethernet port's activity light (optional, I also often leave this unplugged as the server's NIC is almost always active)

The fourth row from the top is for the second ethernet port (optional - this will never be used as unRAID only supports one NIC)

The fifth row from the top is for an overheat/fan fail indicator light (optional - only useful if you have a fan controller with this option, which the Norco 4220 doesn't come with, you would have to install one separately)

The sixth row is not used (electrically not connected to anything)

The seventh row (second from the bottom) is for the server's reset button (optional)

The eighth row (bottom row) is for the server's power button (required)

 

As you can see, there's really only one required plug (the power button), and it is the bottom-most set of pins (closest to the SATA ports).  The rest of the pins are just for blinking lights and other fluff.  I prefer my servers to have a minimum of uselessly blinking lights, so I often leave most if not all of those things unplugged.  I sometimes also leave the reset button unplugged as it can be a bit dangerous if pressed accidentally.  The reset button will reboot the server immediately without giving it a chance to shut down properly...this means that the server has to perform a parity check upon its next boot (just like if it lost power).  The powerdown button, on the other hand, will trigger the server's proper powerdown routine which shuts the server down correctly (it takes a few minutes to shut down, but it is safer).  If the server completely locks up and doesn't respond to anything else, holding the power button for 3 or more seconds will effectively cut the power immediately (just like pulling the plug).

[ratmice]

Thanks for the reply. I did pore over that diagram, and think I hooked up things correctly, but no fancy blinking lights. I think I'm going to follow your lead here, and only connect the power, and maybe the power LED just to convince myself that it works. I see your point about the other useless blinking lights. It's somewhat a matter of principle that I should be able to get them to work, even if I ultimately decide not to use them.

 

One last question, can you do any harm if I switch the - and + connectors for the LEDs, maybe that's my problem, as the leads are not marked in any way either ( well maybe one wire has a red stripe, but I can't look at it at the moment).

[Rajahal]

No, it won't do any harm.  I know they tell you to hook it up a certain way, but I've found it doesn't matter, at least for the important stuff (such as the power switch).  When you press the switch it just closes a circuit for an instant.

[rich.bingham]

As Raj said, polarity on the power and reset switches won't matter as they just short one pin to the other when you press the switch.  LED's are more finicky.  Diode's are designed to only allow current to flow in one direction, no current=no light.  If the LED's don't work, swap the wires on the motherboard.

[ratmice]

Thanks, all.