ThinkCentre A60 front panels (power, audio and USB) pinout

[rocharh]

I found a lot of people searching for this information... since I was unable to find it, I tested the front panel connectors by myself, and that is what I found:

Power front panel (black connector)

+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| Bk |    |    |    |    |    |    |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| Yl |    | Bk | Gn | Yl | Bk |xxxx|
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+

+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|  1 |  3 |  5 |  7 |  9 | 11 | 13 |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|  2 |  4 |  6 |  8 | 10 | 12 |xxxx|
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+

Description

1   Black   Disk activiry led ground
2   Yellow  Disk activiry led ground
3           Not connected
4           Not connected
5           Not connected
6   Black   Power led ground
7           Not connected
8   Yellow  Power led signal
9           Not connected
10  Yellow  Power switch signal
11          Not connected
12  Black   Power switch ground
13          Not connected
14          Locked (no pin)

USB front panel (yellow connector)

It's a standard internal USB connector, but with two additional ground wires

+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| Bk | Re | Wh | Gn | Bk |    |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| Bk | Bw | Bl | Yl | Bk |XXXX|
+----+----+----+----+----+----+

+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|  1 |  3 |  5 |  7 |  9 | 11 |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|  2 |  4 |  6 |  8 | 10 |XXXX|
+----+----+----+----+----+----+

1  Black   Ground
2  Black   Ground
3  Red     USB1 Power
4  Brown   USB2 Power
5  White   USB1 Data -
6  Blue    USB2 Data -
7  Green   USB1 Data +
8  Yellow  USB2 Data +
9  Black   Ground
10 Black   Ground
11         Not connected
12         Locked (no pin)

You may connect the lenovo front panel into a generic motherboard using only the pins 3 to 12. Just leave the pins 1 and 2 disconected. The pins 1, 2, 9 and 10 are connected to the cable shield. It will work fine.

Standard internal USB connector for front panels:

+---+---+---+---+---+
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
+---+---+---+---+---+
| 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |XXX|
+---+---+---+---+---+

1   USB1 Power
2   USB2 Power
3   USB1 Data -
4   USB2 Data -
5   USB1 Data +
6   USB2 Data +
7   Ground
8   Ground
9   Not connected
10  Locked (no pin)

Audio front panel (orange connector)

It's a Intel HD audio type front panel (not AC'97), with a different connector.

+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| Wh | Bw | Bl |    | bk |    |XXXX|
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|    |    | Yl | Rd | Gn | Gy | BK |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+

The pins 9 and 14 are black, but the pin 14 (ground) has a
bigger diameter than the pin 9 (front panel presence return).

Also the pin 9 is connected to the pin 14 inside the front
panel using a resistor (it is not just a closed circuit).

+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|  1 |  3 |  5 |  7 |  9 | 11 |XXXX|
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|  2 |  4 |  6 |  8 | 10 | 12 | 14 |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+

1   White   Jack presence signal send
2           Not connected
3   Brown   Line out jack presence return
4           Not connected
5   Blue    Mic in jack presence return
6   Yellow  Mic in bias / left
7           Not connected
8   Red     Mic in signal / right 
9   Black   Front panel presence return
10  Green   Line out left
11          Not connected
12  Gray    Line out right
13          Locked (no pin)
14  Black   Ground

Audio front panel converted to Intel HD standard:

+----+----+----+----+----+
|  1 |  3 |  5 |XXXX|  9 |
+----+----+----+----+----+
|  2 |  4 |  6 |  8 | 10 |
+----+----+----+----+----+

1   Ground
2   Mic in bias / left
3   Front panel presence return
4   Mic in signal / right
5   Mic in jack presence return
6   Line out right
7   Locked (no pin)
8   Jack presence signal send
9   Line out jack presence return
10  Line out left

You may swap the wires of the connector to be able to connect this front panel into a generic motherboard. It will look like this. Only the pins 1 to 10 will be connected - the pins 11 to 14 will be disconnected.

Be carefull to do not swap the pin 1 and 3... the pin 1 must be the ground (bigger diameter), and the pin 3 must be the panel presence return (smaller diameter).

+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| BK | bk | Bl |    | Bw |    |XXXX|
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| Yl | Rd | Gy | Wh | Gn |    |    |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+

I'll install a new motherboard on my ThinkCentre A60... I'll post the results here later.

Best regards.

[emmjay]

OK I am intrigued. 

What are you trying to accomplish ... a hibrid A60 ?

[rocharh · Accepted solution]

I damaged the motherboard of my A60 when trying to update the BIOS of an old Radeon X600.

The ATIWinFlash did that... also it damaged the VGA BIOS, but I was able to restore it doing a blind flash using a automated script running without any video output.

For months I was unable to set the BIOS admin and user password on my A60... few weeks ago it began hanging when starting... few days ago it became unable to reboot (only cold boot was working)... and last saturday it died completely.

I installed an Foxconn A6VMX motherboard successfully on it... all front panels are working fine.

The only problem is that I lost the Windows XP Pro OEM license....

[emmjay]

Rocharh,

So sorry to hear about your troubles with your A60.  I do hope you will be able to get the system functioning again.

As far as losing your OEM XP/Pro licensing information, I would suggest getting  a freeware program called

Keyfinder and run it on your system when you get it up and running again. It will find the windows product key for you and you can re-activate your license.   Of course, your system will have to reboot for this to work.

Good luck.

[rocharh]

Unfortunatelly Microsoft says new motherboard = new computer = new OEM license... it would be illegal even if I could activate my OEM license using this new motherboard.

Anyway, I installed the Windows 7 Home Premium x86 on my computer... I had a lot of troubles installing the printer software suite, but everything is running fine now.

My Windows 7 license is not activated yet... I still need to buy an FPP license for it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found I need to install the Windows Update's drivers for my all-in-one printer before installing the driver/software package from HP... the HP's driver doesn't work fine on Windows 7.

Now everything is working fine, even using the Windows 7 x64.

[gothics]

Hello, thank you one million for your post, it is well written and easy to follow and it worked!

I was wondering if you can tell me how did you test the front panel connectors.

Did you do 'try and error' or did you use a tester?

Now I have to link the Lenovo motherboard to an Audio front Panel from eMachines which of course is not standard either.

It is composed of 2 sockets, one labelled MIC the other H/P

MIC

+----+----+----+----+

| Re |XXXX| Wh | Bk |

+----+----+----+----+

H/P

+----+----+----+----+----+

| Wh |XXXX| Bk | Gn | Re |

+----+----+----+----+----+

The Black and Red on the H/P are thiker than the rest.

So I assume the Thick black is the ground.

Also if I try with the tester ohm the only combination that gives a reading is Red - Green on H/P

Can you please help to find out which colour is what?

[syrious]

the easiest way to check where your front panel connectors go is to trace them back to the front of the case(often unwind the wire).  On lenovo models there are only 3 connections on a front panel, the pwr button, hdd indicator, and power indicator.  I was able to trace each pair of wires to the front of the case and them match them to the connector on the mobo.  trial and error is fine for testing connectors. often times there is an idicator in the wire(wile line etc) indicating it is the cold wire, while the colored wire is hot.

this worked for my 3 A55 8705 models.

many thanks to the OP for his time and effort.

[pankajbhakte]

really good job buddy hats off

[andyP Community SuperMod]

---

pankajbhakte wrote:

really good job buddy hats off

---

Then please click on the star to the left of the post(s) you found helpful and award some kodos, this helps helpfull members rise through the ranks.

[keith6110]

Just joined to say thanks =)

I didn't think I'd find anything for this, but I got exactly what I was looking for.   

+1 rating left.