F USB Connection

[sexpixel]

Hi Community,

is it possible to connect a F USB cable to a z600 motherboard in order to run a Bluetooth card?

 Thanks

[SDH]

"F USB"... had to look that up with google.  The google knows... says it means Front USB.  In the Z400 and Z600 there are only USB2 front and rear ports.   You may know that there are added unused internal motherboard USB2 headers that can be used to have an internal USB2 device or brought forward with extenders to the front face of the workstations.  Here is a PDF to get you started if you only want USB2 speeds.  I like the USB3 solution better which you can see if you read on below.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01512460.pdf

The Z420 and Z620 got upgraded with both USB2 and USB3 ports front and rear, and HP chose a specific single Texas Instruments chip to drive four USB3 part... they described that with the term "2 x 2" because the USB3 chip gave them the possibility of 2 being out front, and 2 being at the rear backplane.

They also developed a USB3 PCIe card and it uses the exact same Texas Instruments chip, and they developed this card mainly for the ZX00 generation of workstations because USB3 was such a valuable add-on.  I have a post  giving all the details on how I perfected this addition.  The basic drivers from the Z420/Z620 for this chip work perfectly with this card, and there are so many of the ZX20 workstations out there still in use that HP/Microsoft make sure clean Windows 10 64-bit installs get W10 compatible drivers automatically.  I've added that to all our Z600 builds and even some of my Z400 builds.  I added in 4 more USB3 ports using this method to a Z620 v2 build for my wife so it was easy to give her USB3 speeds to a front media card reader for her home office workstation.  The card still works great... and her box upgraded to 21H1 a few days ago with that in place, automatically.

You can read all about that via the link  HERE .

For full USB3 speed you want to use at least a PCIe generation 2 slot...  and those can be found in the xw6600 and up.  With W10 USB3 support for these cards is seamless through restarts and sleep events, which is nice.

Download the main Z600 manual, version 4, from here:

https://images10.newegg.com/User-Manual/User_Manual_83-147-392.pdf

[sexpixel]

Thanks SDH,

That’s a really generous reply. There is a lot of good information there that I think I will act upon, especially adding a USB 3 PCIe card.

As it’s a z600 I think if I read you reply correctly there isn’t a native F USB connector on the mother board.  The Bluetooth card linked below needs power to drive it as the power from the lane apparently isn’t enough which I’m surprised to see. I’m wondering if I can change the power cable from the one supplied to one compatible with the z600 motherboard?

Even if this is possible I have searched the motherboard thoroughly and cannot find any available power connectors to plug anything new into. I’m therefore also wondering if I can find a splitter cable that would allow me to power 2 devices from one power outlet?

This is a link to the card I purchased below. Any thoughts you can offer here are welcomed.

Thanks,
TP-Link Archer TX50E AX3000 Wi-Fi... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08759X3F8?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[SDH]

You can feed power into the card via a Molex to SATA power adapter.  The one I used fits perfectly, Mouser source, shown in the pictures in the link I provided you.  You may not know that each USB3 port provides significantly more power than a USB2 port.  The card gives 4 USB3 ports (2x2) and HP engineered it to be able to run all 4 simultaneously at full power.

There are 3 total internal extra sets of USB2 pins on the motherboard..... if you want to just run USB2.  Those are along the bottom edge of the motherboard, and look in the PDF about internal USB2 add-ons for that info.  You'll not be using any of those pins if you use the USB3 card approach... that Z600 has more than enough USB2 ports so I'd not waste time with adding more of those.

So some searching with google on Z600 USB3... there is more to read up on.

I have no idea why you're bringing up a wireless card...I stick to one topic at a time because my brain is too small.

[sexpixel]

Thank SDH,

The purpose of my post was about finding a port on the motherboard to plug in the power cable to run that Bluetooth card that I posted in my second reply. The card was supplied with a F USB cable.

Checking the pdf I see there may well be a power connector that fits the cable. I'll check again after work today.

Thanks

[SDH]

Edit:  From looking at some of the YouTube videos on this WiFi/Bluetooth adapter there likely is some data going across that F USB 2 x 5 motherboard header set.  I don't think your vendor just uses that special cable for power feed to the card.  That cable is included with your card purchase, and is built to plug into the USB "2 x 5" bare pins header on most motherboards and also in to the back of the card.  That header uses USB2 specifications.  I'd just use that included cable.  You'll easily find the 2 x 5 HP motherboard header if you just look.  The rest below may help some other forum members.

There are lots of places to pick up voltage from the HP motherboard.  You're showing a USB 2 x 5 motherboard pinout and those are standard on HP motherboards.  It is not really "2 x 5"... one of the two is, and the other has a "blank" at one end.  That forces the standard plug being attached to the motherboard 9-pin header to be correctly oriented.  It has one of its end holes plastic-filled so you can push that plug onto the header pins one way only.

You can only tap into +5VDC via that motherboard header... that is all that USB uses.  I have no idea on the amperage you could harvest from the two pins of that header that you'd want to use.  I would not do it that way.

That is 2 of the 3 internal USB ports HP provides.  The third is a 1 x 4 header right next to the 2 x 5 header... same limitations on voltage and amperage.  Get out a flashlight and your best glasses... the pin with a small triangle printed on the motherboard next to it is pin 1.  The blank mentioned above also helps you orient the pins.

You could tap also into the upper 4 pin full size Molex connector (13A) up by the optical drive, and there also is a "floppy drive" equivalent to that but with less amperage (3A):

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#floppy

You can tap into +5VDC and +12VDC with these last two.

I'd say current via the USB2 approach is least, then pretty good with a floppy drive type connector, and then the full size Molex adapter approach is way more than enough.  You should be able to find the voltage and amperage draw for that wireless card pretty easily.

I've used the floppy to SATA power adapters in the past for projects... works fine if you know what you are doing.  I can find you my source if you need that.

[SDH]

The motherboard headers  for the 3 total internal USB2 ports are named by HP as #21 and #22 on the Z600 motherboard diagram.  Those are along the bottom edge just to the left of the end of the SATA ports row.  

21 is a "1 x 5" single USB2 port header for a single internal USB device to be attached to, and it has 4 total pins and one blank.

22 is the one you will be using, and it is a two USB2 port header (a "2 x 5" header) with 9 total pins and one blank.  The interface cable that comes with your new wireless/bluetooth card will plug into that, and it only can go on one way.  Don't bend any of the pins in that header.  Use a flashlight if you need.

Attached below is a PDF of this from the manual, and the same picture can be viewed when a moderator releases it.  Please let us know how well that card performs for you... it looks interesting.