# Asus P4P800/P4C800 Series: How to Connect USB Headers



## clintfan (Sep 4, 2003)

This discusses attaching extra front- or rear-panel USB jacks to Asus P4x800x series motherboards, such as P4C800-E Deluxe. This mobo has 4 built-in USB ports in the rear, plus two headers (USB56 and USB78) to support up to 4 additional ports. If you improperly attach your additional ports to the headers, you can get a short and blow a mobo fuse (the little "P160" parts nearby), or have runtime connectivity problems. 

In this post I will try to help you get properly connected.


First, pull your power cord out. 

Next, if you are using the 4-port pigtail that comes with these Asus motherboards (make sure it's not a 1394 Firewire pigtail), there are two plugs that will fit right over the USB56 and USB78 headers. So you have not much work to do: just stick the plugs on! They're keyed, so they can go only one way. You're finished!


If, instead, your case comes with its own front-panel USB jacks that come out to a pigtail with 9 or 10 fiddly little individual single-wire connectors, you'll have to figure out which wire has what signal. _(The Lian-Li case, for instance, has a pigtail with 9 single-pin connectors, though they're also labelled and follow a standard color coding.)_

The rest of this post discusses the single-wire connectors case...



USB STANDARD PORT
To begin this task, I had found this USB Pinout guide by trolling the web. Scroll down to the "USB Pinout" part, which shows the looking-into-the-front view of a Type-A USB port or jack, the same type of jacks built into the rear of this mobo. This is standard for _any_ Type-A USB port, not just Asus. I've approximated the same diagram, below...


```
----------------
|  x  x  x  x  |  Std. USB 1.1/2.0 Port
|  1  2  3  4  |  Port, looking "in"
|              |
|              |
----------------

Pin 1        +5V          Red
Pin 2        -Data        White
Pin 3        +Data        Green
Pin 4        GND          Black
```
Let me try to explain this picture. Looking into a real jack, it's sort of divided in half. One half has a part sticking out, call it a tongue, which has electrical contacts on one side. The picture shows this tongue as "x x x x". The other half is open, all the way in _(to accept a matching tongue on a USB plug)_. 

With the tongue positioned "above" the open part, as shown, pin 1 will be the pin on the underside of the left side of the tongue. Knowing where pin 1 is may be important for the rest of your installation. The signalling and standard coloring is also given.




ASUS MOTHERBOARD USB HEADERS
Now, in the P4C800-E mobo manual, "Connectors" sect. 2.8.13, "USB Headers" (your sect. number may vary) shows the header pinouts for headers "USB56" and "USB78", which supply up to four additional USB ports besides the four on the back. 

If, for instance, you were hooking up USB56 (it's found between PCI slots 1&2), you would connect the pigtail pins as follows (here, Mobo pins are numbered for discussion only, the manual only designates header pin 1)...

```
-----------------
| 6  7  8  9 10 |  Asus P4x800x Mobo USB header
|               |  USB56  (USB78 is similar)
| 1  2  3  4  x |
-----------------

Jack 5       Signal      Color     Mobo header pin     Lian-Li label
Pin 1        +5V         Red       1-USB+5V            VCC 1
Pin 2        -Data       White     2-USB_P5-           DATA-1
Pin 3        +Data       Green     3-USB_P5+           DATA+1
Pin 4        GND         Black     4-GND               GROUND 1

Jack 6       Signal      Color     Mobo header         Lian-Li label
Pin 1        +5V         Red       6-USB+6V            VCC 2
Pin 2        -Data       White     7-USB_P6-           DATA-2
Pin 3        +Data       Green     8-USB_P6+           DATA+2
Pin 4        GND         Black     9-GND               GROUND 2
case         -           Grey??   10-NC                SHIELD
```
LABELLED CONNECTORS
If you are lucky enough to have each fiddly little single connector stamped with a signal label, as on the Lian-Li case, then you're in great shape. I've provided an extra column listing Lian-Li signal name stamps. Note Lian-Li is JUST AN EXAMPLE, and their colors match up too, but your pigtail might have some similar signal names stamped on.

Start with the +5V line for the lowest-numbered USB port (e.g. 5). Find the wire having that signal and plug it onto the header. Now do the -Data line for that same port. Work your way left-to-right. Then do the other port.

At the end, if your pigtail has an extra "shield" connector you will need to attach it to the pin marked "NC" in the mobo header diagram, as shown in the list. This probably means No Connection at the mobo end, but don't worry; the shield is grounded to the metal, which is grounded to your PC case, so the shielding will still function. If for some reason you have _two_ shield connectors, there's no place for the second one on this mobo; either cut it off or get it out of the way, maybe weaving it back into the pigtail so it won't ground-out any circuits.


UNLABELLED CONNECTORS
If your single-wire connectors aren't labelled, or if your wire colors are completely different than the standard --say, blue, yellow, orange, brown-- then you will have to somehow figure out which wire goes to which pin of which USB port jacks. You can do this with an ohmmeter, a beeper light, a battery and bulb and 3 wires taped together like a flashlight, or lastly, by trial-and-error. Make a list and apply it against the header wiring list above.



Using needle-nose pliers to fit the connectors to the header isn't out of the question, but just don't slip, and scratch any mobo traces! 

Repeat the connection process for additional USB jacks (USB78) if needed.

Don't forget to enable your new USB ports in your BIOS, if you previously disabled them.

And don't forget to apply ("install") the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility to each of your USB devices in turn, so their capabilities will be properly recognized by Windows.


-clintfan


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## Guest (Sep 19, 2003)

I don't know why they even make those non-standard colored wires. The only way to really figure it out is like you said with a light bulb or an ohm meter. I guess the easiest way would be to have a standard USB wire setup and then check it pin by pin and wire by wire to make sure it's wired the same.


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## Javora (Aug 24, 2003)

Thank you Clintfan, that post of yours got my system straighten out. I had the two "+Data" wires transposed. Thankfully you listed the color of the wires or I would have never figured it out.  Luckily I'm not _that_ color blind.  The Antec case that I have only labels the wires "+D" or "-D" and the three (3) ground wires are only listed as "G". So I can easily see where I went wrong. Thanks again Clintfan.


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## Kalmah (Sep 13, 2003)

wow, thanks alot. The front USB ports is the only thing I didn't even bother to try to hook up.. I looked at the cables, looked at the picture on the manual, looked at the motherboard... then sat the cables down and turned to the next page.. hehe  

I'm going to print this out for future reference. 

thanks again.


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## Oli From Paris (Oct 30, 2003)

*Asus P4P800/P4C800 Series: How to Connect FireWire Headers*

Hi !

Got a question about the fire wire header... I've got lian li pc 37 case and I didn't manage to connect the firewire header on the asus p4C800 E Deluxe.

Can U help? Reading the "Asus P4P800/P4C800 Series: How to Connect USB Headers" U seem pretty aware about this kind of stuff.

Regards.

Oliver


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## clintfan (Sep 4, 2003)

Sorry I haven't looked at Firewire yet. My case has no place for front panel firewire so I didn't hook it up. Will see what I can figure out. I will get back to you, maybe someone else will first.

But this is a USB thread. I will post firewire data in something separate here.

-clintfan


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## gamerson (Aug 27, 2004)

*How about for the Antec P160?*

I've tried to get the FS USB ports to work but can't figure out between the manual for the Antec and the Asus board which way this thing gets plugged in.

I'll try again referencing your original post and see if I have any luck. If I don't, I'll post the color of wire, label, and how many so hopefully someone can help me out. Right now, this is the only thing I have left to do on my new system except install drivers and more software.

Thanks,

Gary


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## deleted13032012 (Jul 22, 2004)

*:s*

ok I've had my pc for about 8 months now and i've always known the front usb ports (there are 2) weren't connected so last week i went to check it out

its 2 cords that go into one pin like data-1, data+1, gnd 1, vcc 1
then data-2, data+2, gnd 2, vcc 2

then the 2 cords go in to form one cord which connects to the front usb ports

i've got 4 addictional back ports, could this prevent me from having 2 more front ones?

(in total i've got 8 usb ports in back)
my mobo is P4C800-E Deluxe

thanks, Marco


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