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trustyduck

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Nov 21, 2010
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Hi, I'm building a computer and I'm in a pickle. I can't figure out how to orient the power and reset switch wires onto my mother board. I know where they go and all that, I just don't know which wire is associated with which pole.

I read somewhere that with these switch wires, polar orientation doesn't matter. The white wire is labeled "G" and the colored wire is labeled "S". Now I assume these letters stand for "ground" and "switch" respectively, but I wanted to come on the forums to be sure. Should I associate this "G" wire (white) with the negative or the positive pole? Does it even matter?

I would rather not have to buy another motherboard just because I was too impatient to be absolutely sure. I am extremely paranoid about wiring and electricity in general, so you can see where I'm coming from.

Any links to good resources or personal experience would be great!
 
Solution
For the switches it does not matter as the switch is just a disconnect between the 2 wires so that when it is depressed the connection is completed so that power can flow from one side to the other and that activates the switch -- so it makes no difference which wire is on which side since the connection will still be made between the 2 when the button is pressed. For the lights (ie. HDD activity light) it will make a difference but hooking them up wrong will just make the light stay on all of the time (will not cause damage to the light) so if you get it wrong the light will remain on in which case you just disconnect it and swap the wires around to fix it ! (again hooking it up wrong will not damage anything)
For the switches it does not matter as the switch is just a disconnect between the 2 wires so that when it is depressed the connection is completed so that power can flow from one side to the other and that activates the switch -- so it makes no difference which wire is on which side since the connection will still be made between the 2 when the button is pressed. For the lights (ie. HDD activity light) it will make a difference but hooking them up wrong will just make the light stay on all of the time (will not cause damage to the light) so if you get it wrong the light will remain on in which case you just disconnect it and swap the wires around to fix it ! (again hooking it up wrong will not damage anything)
 
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