USB3.0 pinout (moved mobo to new case)

[Range_Rover]

Moved motherboard to a new case.  Everything went fine except the USB3.0 front panel ports.  The new cases' 3.0 port's don't work (one has power but doesn't recognize a mouse plugged into it, the other has no power).  The old 3.0 cable pulled from the HP case works, but wont mount in the new case.

I'm assuming the pin-out of the Pittsburgh2 motherboard's USB3.0 connector is non-standard.   Can someone confirm that it is indeed non-standard, and if so, do we know what the pin-out is?  Also, if non-standard, is there an adapter cable to correct, or would I need to build one from scratch?

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Since the old cable works then perhaps the new case has wiring issues.  It happens.

Alternatively, you can use an adapter cable to test out the USB 3 ports.

[Range_Rover]

Yep, I should have mentioned that I pulled the 3.0 cable out of the new case and tried it on two other computers with (newer) MSI motherboards.  It woked like a charm in both cases.  I think my next step is to buzz out both cables and see where they depart. 

I looked at buying new cables at one point, that's when I decided to pull the cable out of the new case and start a plug fest.  I just found it odd that the mobo connector looks like the current intel standard.  I could zip tie the old HP 3.0 cable to the new case for now...  A little ghetto, but what-the-heck.

Thanks for the reply!

[Range_Rover · Accepted solution]

Okay, so I ohm'ed out the HP cable and, even though the connector is the same as the Intel standard USB3 connector, the pinout is NOT the same.  Fortunately I didn't short out VCC to ground through the standard USB3.0 connector that came with the new case!  For my solution I zip-tied the old HP USB3.0 module to my case (Core P3) and will use it for the additional USB3.0 ports.  The new cable that came with the case is left unconnected, and thus the USB3.0 connectors on it's "front panel" wont work.  Here's what I found, but be sure to double check for yourself if before making any changes.   Note: I marked the pins that aren't connected through the HP cable with '?'.  They may actually be the SS transmit and receive pins on the pittsburgh2 motherboard, but I have no way to confirm that.

INTEL Standard USB3 pinout:

VBUS (Pwr)   1  2   P1 SSRX-
P1 SSRX+     3  4   GND
P1 SSTX-     5  6   P1 SSTX+
GND (Drain)  7  8   P1 D-
P1 D+        9 10   ID (No Connect)
P2 D+       11 12   P2 D-
Ground      13 14   P2 SSTX+
P2 SSTX-    15 16   Ground
P2 SSRX+    17 18   P2 SSRX-
VBUS (Pwr)  18 20   Key (no pin)

HP Pittsburgh2 USB3 pinout:

P1 Pwr       1  2   P2 Pwr
P1 D+        3  4   P2 D+
P1 D-        5  6   P2 D-
Ground       7  8   ?
?            9 10   ?
?           11 12   ?
Ground      13 14   Ground
?           15 16   ?
?           17 18   ?
?           18 20   Key (no pin)

[wb2001]

@Range_Rover,

Would something like this  with 4 USB3 and card reader,  or just 4 USB3

[Range_Rover]

Two main issues with the suggestion.

1.  I'm assuming this card reader/USB ports device follows the intel 20 pin USB3.0 motherboard standard.  If so it would have the same issue that I do with the new case.  Anyone moving this motherboard to a new case (which has USB3 on the front panel) would have the same issue, and any device not explicitly made to work with the HP Pittsburgh2 motherboard would have a problem.

2.  My particular case is the Thermaltake Core P3 open frame chasis.  I'll  try to attach a picture when I'm back home, but there are none of the traditional CD/DVD drive bays to mount a device like this.

Perhaps there's an PCI card out there that has an Intel standard 20 pin USB3 connector on it?  I've not heard of one, but haven't really looked that hard...  Maybe this?  Then I can have the cases' front panel USB3.0's functional as well as my zip-tied HP cable/port...

[wb2001]

@Range_Rover,

Yes, there are a few PCIE cards with a single internal USB3 port.