Many of us
have a case with a small three-digit display. For many of us,
the display is blank and says nothing. I’m too new to computers
to know exactly how this display worked when it actually worked.
It is my understanding that it was connected to the turbo feature of
older motherboards, and that it was designed to show the CPU clock
speed in the normal mode, and in the turbo mode.
Modern motherboards don’t support the turbo
function. So now we’ve got a button, a light, and a three-digit
display that do nothing! This page will remedy that. The
display is actually fully programmable, and will change when you press
the turbo button. The turbo light will also work as well.
First off, in order to do
this you’ll have to have access to the back of the display. This
is some detailed work, and requires settings many jumpers. It’s
tricky, and annoying, and if you’ve got a case without a removable
front panel it’s even worse. For most people it’s probably not
worth the trouble, but if you have some free time, and feel like
making that display say something then read on.
Second, this is tricky, and takes some thinking.
You can’t do this in five minutes. It requires a little
planning, a little thinking, and a lot of patience.
1.) Turn your
computer off, and get yourself access to the display. This will
require removing the case cover, and possibly the front panel.
You need to get access to the back of the display where you will
notice many jumper pins, and hopefully the jumpers to go along with
them. You are going to be settings these jumpers, so you may
need some needle-nosed pliers, or you can just use your fingers if you
didn’t trim your nails yesterday.
2.) Start by removing anything connected
to the display. It’s best to start fresh and do it all yourself
so you know what’s going on. This includes removing any wires
that are attached via the jumper pins (possibly as many as three
connectors) and all the jumper shunts.
3.) Now comes the tricky part.
Setting the jumpers to program it. First off you need to decide what
you want it to say. All the numbers 0-9 are possible, and many
letters are possible too. The letters you can use are: A, B, C,
D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, O, P, R, S, U, Z (B will
look like an 8, D like a 0, G will look odd, R will look like A, S,
like 5, and Z, like 2. Not perfect but possible) You can
also do lower case letters. The lower case letters you can use
are: b, c, d, h, i, l, n, o, r, u And many of these won’t look
so hot either. This guide will help you program in some simple
numbers however. Once you get the basics down, you can get
creative and do it as you wish. It’ll be easy once you
understand the concepts.
4.)Okay, I’ve avoided the tough part up until
now. I’ll try to keep it simple and straight forward. It’s
not that hard, but it took me a long time to figure it out from the
skimpy and vague chart I got with my new case. When the turbo
button is pressed (on) your display can change. You have four
choices for each of the seven segments of the figure-eight digit.
Always on, always off, on when button pressed (off when button not
pressed), on when button not pressed (off when button pressed.)
Let’s make that part a little
more explicit:
| Segment Lit? | Button Pressed? | Status Number |
| No | No | 0 |
| Yes | No | 1 |
| Yes | Yes | 2 |
| Yes | Doesn’t Matter | 3 |
Now just one more concept
before we can start programming. Each segment of the figure has a
letter assigned to it. Here’s how that works:
So now we get down to it. I’m
going to explain how to program the display to say 123, and then say
436 when you press the button. Simple enough.
First like this: and
then
this:
Here’s a table
of each segments status:
| Button On | Button Off | |
| Segment A | ||
| Segment B | X | X |
| Segment C | X | X |
| Segment D | ||
| Segment E | ||
| Segment F | X | |
| Segment G | X |
Rememeber those Status Numbers
I mentioned in an above table? We now apply those to each segment.
| 0A |
| 3B |
| 3C |
| 0D |
| 0E |
| 2F |
| 2G |
And now, take a look at the
back of the display. It should have pins in a pattern like that
displayed below. Wherever there is a number or letter, there is a pin.
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| A | 3 | 3 | C | |||||||||||
| 2 | T- | T+ | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | F | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| E | 3 | 3 | 3 | G | ||||||||||
| 1 | L | C | H | 2 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | G | 5V | 1 | ||||||||||
| B | 3 | 3 | D | |||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
| Yellow | First Digit |
| Green | Second Digit |
| Red | Third Digit |
| White | Wire Connections |
| Purple | Unassigned |
Okay, first digit. We are dealing
with the yellow letters. We aren’t doing anything to A, so we skip it.
B was 3. Place a jumper shunt over the pins assigned B and 3.
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| A | 3 | 3 | C | |||||||||||
| 2 | T- | T+ | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | F | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| E | 3 | 3 | 3 | G | ||||||||||
| 1 | L | C | H | 2 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | G | 5V | 1 | ||||||||||
| B | 3 | 3 | D | |||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
Next, C, and 3.
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| A | 3 | 3 | C | |||||||||||
| 2 | T- | T+ | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | F | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| E | 3 | 3 | 3 | G | ||||||||||
| 1 | L | C | H | 2 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | G | 5V | 1 | ||||||||||
| B | 3 | 3 | D | |||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
Get it? Each choice of what should be
lit and when has a number/letter code assigned to it. Connect those
two pins with a jumper shunt, and it’ll do what you want it to do. So
to finish up the first digit by placing a jumper shunt over the F and
the 2 pins (don’t forget it’s the Yellow ones in the diagram) and then
the 2 and the G.
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| A | 3 | 3 | C | |||||||||||
| 2 | T- | T+ | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | F | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| E | 3 | 3 | 3 | G | ||||||||||
| 1 | L | C | H | 2 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | G | 5V | 1 | ||||||||||
| B | 3 | 3 | D | |||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
On to the second digit.
The second digit is a 2
and
then a 3 
So the code will be: 3A, 3B,
2C, 3D, 1E, 0F, 3G. If you don’t understand why this is, go back and
reread the above section. Make sure you understand where I got this
code from.
Now we are dealing with the second
digit which are the green pins in the diagram. It should end up
looking like this:
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| A | 3 | 3 | C | |||||||||||
| 2 | T- | T+ | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | F | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| E | 3 | 3 | 3 | G | ||||||||||
| 1 | L | C | H | 2 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | G | 5V | 1 | ||||||||||
| B | 3 | 3 | D | |||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 2 | B | 1 | 3 | 2 | D | 1 | 3 | 2 | F | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1 | A | 2 | 3 | 1 | C | 2 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 1 | G | 2 |
Now do the last number on your own
and it’s done! All you have to do it connect the power. You should
have a small 2 pin wire coming off one of your four pin power
connectors for a drive. Connect the red wire to the 5V on the diagram,
and the black wire to the G (ground) on the diagram. Connect the Turbo
LED to the T-, and T+. And connect the Turbo three wire connector to
the LCH. You might have to reverse them if the display looks like
gibberish when you turn your computer back on.
Don’t put the cover back on yet
either, because it’s not going to work. I never get it right the first
time. I always count one off, and mess it all up. Hopefully at least
one digit will work right. Just keep working on it until it says what
you want. Good Luck, and Enjoy!
