HP Z2 G4 Power button logic and wiring

[DaSosa32]

Hi everyone, I’m back again asking for some technical guidance.

I’m currently running an HP Z2 G4 Workstation as my personal rig, which I’ve set up to function as a home entertainment and streaming hub.

Initially, I tried to get Wake-on-LAN (WoL) working over Wi-Fi, but I didn't have any luck. My goal is to be able to turn the computer on from anywhere—inside or outside the house—so I can cast content to my Chromecast or phone via Apollo/Artemis.

Since WoL was a dead end, I bought a small smart switch (designed to integrate with Google Home) to trigger the power remotely. The smart switch itself works fine, but I’ve run into issues during the wiring process.

I suspect the HP motherboard performs some kind of status check or proprietary verification on the original power button assembly. The smart switch requires connecting two wires to the power switch headers and two wires to the power LED headers (this is how the switch monitors whether the PC is currently ON or OFF). It also provides bypass headers to reconnect the original physical button and its LED.

However, once everything is connected:

1. The physical power button LED does not light up.

2. The PC fails to complete the boot sequence and shuts down immediately.

I tried moving the smart switch's status sensor (the LED trigger) to a different voltage source just so it could "see" when the PC is on, but I’m still getting errors during power-up and power-down. This leads me to believe the original HP button might have a specific latching logic, a non-standard resistance, or the board is sensing the circuit in a proprietary way.

I’ve searched the forums extensively but haven't found a clear pinout diagram for the front panel/power button connector (F_PANEL) or the specific logic behind the boot sequence for this model.

The closest information I’ve found is the following:

I hope someone can help me figure this out. Otherwise, I’ll have to scrap this idea and try Wake-on-LAN via Ethernet, though that’s my last resort due to the PC's current location and the cable routing challenges.

Regards.

[DGroves]

wake on lan (WOL) is still somewhat a hit or miss under windows OS and adding wifi to the mix increases the chances of problems

main issue is that wifi  does  pass the nessary packets that WOL depends on you must use a hardwired connection

what will work for you is a KVM box with "IP" capabilities

https://www.amazon.com/KVM-Remote-Control-Over-Internet/dp/B0G1T9MR4S?th=1