Revive an orphan Z4 G4 motherboard!

[Mita11]

Hi,

I have a G4 Z4 mother board but no other component of the workstation. I plan to test this MB wether it works or not. I am facing multiple challenges in this project.

1. I have not got the original PSU.  I was not able to find a schematics for the MB 18 pin and 12 pin power connector pinout. Checking the sticker of the PSU (from the web) it seems the PSU povides 5V and 12V, next to 600W of power. No 3.3V rail is mentioned. On the other hand I found info that 3.3V is present on the 18 pin connector. It would be great if somebody have the pinout or have a canche to measure the voltages on the pins on switch off (standby) and switch on state. Unfortunately I can measure only the possible GND pins on these connectors. As fas as I see the measurement can be done without removing the MB from the case. This would be a very helpfull info. If the PSU connector pinout can be solved I will be able to provide the supply to the MB with my custom PSU.

2. In order to switch on the MB I would need one more info: which pin recieves the switch on-off signal on the yellow pin connector at the top left of the MB. I know this is a bit tricky to measure because there is an integrated front panel handling the front interfaces. I just can hope the switch on - off state is not told to the MB via any serial communication protocol but just a usual way pulling down a high pin by pressing the switch on-off button. 

I would appreciate any help in advance to support the revival of this beauty.

[DGroves]

rather than reinventing the wheel so to speak, buy a used z4 g4 power supply off ebay for the 30.00 or so for the 750 watt model and connect it to the motherboard and  either use it as is or pinout the voltages and the spend hours designing a new power supply circuit and then pay a company to make said power supply board and then pay yet again for the parts to put on the power supply board

all of the above seems a bit silly to me since you obviously have the 750 watt 30.00 supply

in short you can make a toaster fly, but at some point it's cheaper to just buy a plane. 

https://pcserverandparts.com/hp-hp-z4-g4-dps-750ab-36-750w-power-supply-used-851382-001/

as for your other questions there exists the HP z4 g4 service manual on the HP site. perhaps looking at that may prove informative......................

[Mita11]

Thank you your quick reply!

I am living in Europe, unfortunately buying the PSU from here is a much more expensive than 30 USD. I have checked the prices on ebay and I found a very rare case: it is cheaper to buy from US than from Europe even if it has a considerable shipping cost. European prices are inflated as hell. Cheapest prices: from US  63EUR (shipping cost is more than the product's price), from Europe 88 EUR.

On the other hand: I do not know this MB is working or not. I rescued it from electronic waste but it is in a very good external condition. I would like to pay as less as it needs to check the MB out. If it is working than it worth to buy the PSU and the front panel board.  I have a cooler, the graphics card and a lab bench PSU with 3 variable outputs. I have to buy the cpu and the memory but these items are easily resaleable if the MB is not repairable. The PSU is not easy to sell, it is HP specific.

Knowing the PSU pinout has one more advantage: If a Z4 is not starting one day for a user out there than he/she has at least a canche to check the voltages to determine wether the PSU or the MB failed.

The service manual for this machine is excellent, but unfortunately the power connectors pinout is not described there. I even tried to ask Delta product support (PSU producer) for help but they never replied back for my inquiry.

If there is any other avenue to try to get this information than please share with me. I tried these and I would not like to give it up.