New Build - Wrong header configuration

[bruef]

I'm in the midst of my first new build and am pretty much done assembling the hardware and going to start configuring the bios next. I've run into one minor problem though. One of the leaders from the case (either the pwr LED or the HDD LED - don't have it in front of me now and can't recall which) has a three wire connector on the end (hot and ground on the ends and a dummie in the middle) but the corresponding header on my mobo has only two adjacent prongs. Is there such thing as an adaptor out there that will step down the 3 wire connector to a two wire? Or would I need to do some cutting and soldering to get this working? I'm building this pc for my own personal use so it's obviously not the end of the world if that LED isn't operational, but since it's my first build, it would be nice to have everything up to speed.

[glc]

Look some more - most boards that have a 2 pin LED header have an alternate 3 pin header. It would have helped if you had told us the motherboard brand and model.

[bruef]

The board is an ASRock 775i65g. The header in question is the power LED. I've checked all over the board and I'm not seeing any unaccounted for 3 pin headers.

[Panama Red]

Check page 20 of your manual or download the online manual (like I did). The System Panel Header has a PLED+ and PLED- in the top left. Those are the connectors you're looking for. Directly below them are the HDLED connectors. Those are for the hard drive. If the leds fail to function after you have them wired, turn the connector 180 degrees so the wires are swapped. Non working led usually means the connection polarity is wrong.

[bruef]

I truly appreciate your attempt to help and I hope this doesn't come off as snotty but I think you misread my original post. I'm not having trouble locating the PLED headers as it's noted in the manual. The problem is the leader in my case which has a 3-receptacle connector on it can not be plugged into the PLED header on the mobo which has 2 adjacent prongs. My question is are there adaptors out there that will step my 3-holed connector down to a 2 hole so it can be used with the two-prong header on my mobo. The other altenative I assume is to either yank one of the wires out of the connector and attempt to solder it into the middle hole, or, if possible, use a razor blade to cut the connector in half (the middle hole is the dummy so I could cut through that). Then I could turn each of the individual wire connectors sideways and hopefully fit them onto header. Naturally I'd prefer to use an adaptor (if there is such a thing) to attempting to chop and modify the connector I have. My hands are a little big for doing that type of delicate work .

[Panama Red]

Sorry for the confusion. When I've encountered this type of issue with led or speaker connectors, I just remove the wires using a large needle to lift the small flap that locks the pins in place. Then reinsert them in the correct order. It's fine to let the open pin location hang off the end of the front panel header.

[bruef]

Cool! I'll try that - thanks for the help!
One last question - is there a standard polarity configuration? I don't have the unit in front of me right now but I believe one wire is white and the other is blue. Any way of knowing which is + & which is - ? Or do I need to do some test runs?

[Panama Red]

White shold be the - or ground wire. Blue will go to the +.

[bruef]

Thanks!

[glc]

Just to let you know why it's like that - the motherboard is built to Intel standard (to allow for an integrated 1 piece front panel connector for everything) but your case lead is not. Before the Intel standard, the 3 pin was common. However, Intel branded boards have the alternate header that I was describing - apparently Asrock does not.