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CM Stacker USB Header Mod/Hub?

M

macrospect

[H]ard|Gawd
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Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
1,711
I am looking for a mod for the USB ports on the front of my CM stacker. I would like to be able to use all of them, but unfortionately I am out of USB headers.

Long ago, I remebered that someone here had added some type of hub to their headers, making it so all of the USB ports would be avalible on the front of the stacker.

If anyone has any idea how I couuld go about this, please speak up. :)
 
The ghetto way i think would be to actually place a mini laptop hub in the stacker and jump it from the mb headers :).
but i am sure theres a neater way
 
I was thinking of doing something along those lines. I would need to supply a secondary power source (on second thought I MAY be able to use the 5V rail on my PSU :) ), to power the hub. I also would need something that had 6 ports on it, and some custom USB cables (seeing usb hubs dont use header pins they use the plug (not sure what the plug is called).

I guess Ill look around for a decent mini-USB hub.
​
 
14?! Holy crap. What d'you have connected to your computer? I've got mouse, keyboard, gamepad, speedpad, and remote wonder RF receiver, and my motherboard has 4 external USB, 4 internal (only have 2 hooked up tho) and then a 4 port hub in my 21" widescreen gateway.

I occasionally hook up a memory card reader and/or digital camera, MP3 player etc but that's only one extra slot between the three.
 
I gave up on modding Stacker panels and just started using motherboards with 6 USB headers. :)

I've thought of having some company design an expansion card with 6-12 USB headers. I wonder what the market for a beast like that would be.
 
Logan321 said:
14?! Holy crap. What d'you have connected to your computer? I've got mouse, keyboard, gamepad, speedpad, and remote wonder RF receiver, and my motherboard has 4 external USB, 4 internal (only have 2 hooked up tho) and then a 4 port hub in my 21" widescreen gateway.

I occasionally hook up a memory card reader and/or digital camera, MP3 player etc but that's only one extra slot between the three.
Click to expand...
Some of the things I have are redundant (IE there is more than one). To name a few:

HP 932C printer
HP 7960 photo printer
HP 5300C Scanner
Wireless Mouse Receiver
Wireless Keyboard Receiver
Cable for Harmony Remote
Cable for Olympus C4000 Camera
Cable for Ti-84 calc
Card reader
Palm Cradle
Zip Drive
Thumb drives
UPS
..and a few other things.

If you are asking yourself, yes it does take a while (not to mention a lot of cable(s)) to figure out what device goes to what driver when something is not working correctly.

Since my mobo only has 2 headers (a total of 4 ports) I purchased that expansion PCI card that will accommodate up to 2 more ports. I had (yes had) a card reader on my Hardcano 13, but one day I let the "magic smoke"© out of it.
 
you could have found a 4 port usb card for the back , unless you wanted the firewire. im thinking of getting one.


i dont used 14 different things.

but prolly used up to 5 at one time.

3 different card readers, had 2 for my camera, and bought a multi one to solve that problem but i use the old ones for my laptop.

webcam, mouse, headset till it died, printer, and thumbdrives. used to have a usb keyboard to,

so yeah its nice to have extra ports.
 
They really are handy, but having just 2 was never enough. Its always nice for extra thumb drive space.
 
Is there a cheaper way to split some of the ports without adding new ones?

Mhy DFI Expert also doe snot have enough USB to use all 6 in the front of the case :( Just 4 of them :p

Woul dbe nice to use all 6 though!
 
Yeah there is a another way, its the more expensive route though. I think this will work but im not 100% sure.

Buy a 6 port (D-Link sells a mini 7-port hub), 7 short USB cables (from eBay of course), some header pins, and header housings. Take the 6 short USB cables and cut the end with the square plug off, exposing the conductors. Next, add a header pin and a housing onto each conductor, and correctly plug them into the header plugs on the stackers front panel. Do this for the remaining 5. Next since your hub will need power (since it IS powering 6 ports), it just so happens that the PSU that D-Link gives you with the hub is 5V (@ 2A). You should be able to hack off the end of the D-Link's PSU and wire it strait up to your computers PSU. After that take the "IN" port on the hub and plug the remaining USB cable that you have into the back of your computer and ruin it to the hub. You can also modify the cable like the above ones so that it plugs directly into one of your headers.

Thats how it is done!

I just did not have the cash atm for those items, so I took the cheap route. :)
 
Damn thats a lot of USB devices.

I love that the stacker has 6 USB ports on the front. The Asus A8N has 3 headers and it's perfect!

I use all 4 ports on the back and 2 on the front.
Love it!
 
I just received my add in card today. Installed and worked like a charm.

And if you dont believe how many USB ports I really have:

usbports.jpg


:p

Its a good cheap solution :)

I think I am going to be the first to find out if it is possible to daisy chain 127 devices off of a single port :D

PS. My P4C800-E only has 2 headers on it (good for 4 ports).
 
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