Open starhawk64 opened 1 week ago
Unfortunately that board is the small form factor (SFF) version of the Optiplex 990 which has the connector in a different location making our DFP34-TK adapter kit incompatible (our adapter only works with the MT/DT variant). Currently we don't make an adapter for that model since there's not much demand due to it's age and we also cannot seem to find a ribbon extension cable for our adapter unless it's custom made to order from China. The only option is to splice the wires from the original front panel assembly to your new case front panel at this time.
It would be easy enough to add support for this motherboard with a single bridge PCB and a pair of 34pin (2x17) 2mm-pitch pin headers. Probably the easiest design, from the user's perspective, would be to basically rest the bridge PCB atop the capacitors in between the CPU socket and the I/O Shield area at the back of the board, tucking the original breakout adapter partially under the heatsink behind the DP and PS/2 mouse/keyboard port pair. That would be a longish but simple sort of vaguely L-shaped PCB.
A second, potentially cheaper option, albeit one with much more complicated trace routing, would be to create a smaller, 'chunky' bridge PCB that puts the adapter 'under' the second PCI-E x16 slot, parallel with the slot.
Alternately, an option to bundle in one of those 34pin cables from China would be welcome as well, if a deal can be made.
I'm happy to assist with testing if you want to try for one of those. I'd really appreciate having an option here other than eating the money sunk into your adapter -- unfortunately I'm not qualified to design PCBs, and I'm on a deadline with one of these boards -- as I'm a young fellow on Disability, with limited resources, trying to help a local family of even more difficult circumstances as much as I can.
My Dell Optiplex 990 board (purchased for a non-Dell build), DP/N 0D6H9T, has the 34pin connector in the rear I/O header area, just behind the dual audio ports, and to the side of a stack of two USB ports and a LAN jack. 34pin 2mm-pitch IDC ribbon cables are unobtanium, and the PCB as designed will not fit. I don't have the resources to either make or obtain custom PCBs of my own.
What do I do?