Onboard Firewire GA-K8NXP-SLI

[pjman]

I just moved my GA-K8NXP-SLI board into an Antec Sonata II case that has a front Firewire connection. The cable is a ten pin connector but it doesn't fit the 10 pin connection on the motherboard. Can someone explain why they are not the same? Are they different technologies?

According to the pinout readings in the manual the required cables are there, just not in the same order. Copied directly from each manual:

Motherboard
Pin / Definition
1 TPA0+
2 TPA0-
3 GND
4 GND
5 TPB0+
6 TPB0-
7 No Pin
8 Power
9 Power
10 GND

Case Cable
Pin / Definition
1 TPA+
2 TPA-
3 Ground
4 Ground
5 TPB+
6 TPB-
7 +12V (Fused)
8 +12V (Fused)
9 Key (No Pin)
10 Ground

Can I swap pins 7 & 9 on the cable and plug it in to the motherboard?

 

[evongugg]

No, that is a 1394b connection on the motherboard.
The case has a 1394a connection.
Do not change the pin arrangement.

 

[pjman]

Great, sounds good!

Can anyone explain or point me to a site that explains the different types of Firewire and connectors? I'm just curious why I can't plug it into the motherboard without manually changing the pin order.

Thanks!

 

[Zorg]

Great, sounds good!

Can anyone explain or point me to a site that explains the different types of Firewire and connectors? I'm just curious why I can't plug it into the motherboard without manually changing the pin order.

Thanks!

Apparently you can get an adapter. Here is a quote and a link from Wiki.

FireWire 800
FireWire 800 (Apple's name for the 9-pin "S800 bilingual" version of the IEEE 1394b standard) was introduced commercially by Apple in 2003. This newer 1394 specification (1394b) and corresponding products allow a transfer rate of 786.432 Mbit/s with backwards compatibility to the slower rates and 6-pin connectors of FireWire 400. However, while the IEEE 1394a and IEEE 1394b standards are compatible, FireWire 800's connector is different from FireWire 400's connector, making the physical male and female (both 4 and 6pin) connectors and cables incompatible. An adapter is necessary to take advantage of the 800's backward compatibility.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire