Thinkpads Forum

Hi everyone,

I am using an X61 motherboard for a gateway/router/firewall. I keep the original keyboard on to power on the board. Does anyone know if it is possible to wire just a power button onto the motherboard?

thanks

zog

zogthegreat wrote:... if it is possible to wire just a power button onto the motherboard?

Yes, it is possible -- the docking station for those machines has an on/off button which operates though the docking connector on the bottom of the machine ... but I do not have details on where/what to solder! Perhaps others do ...

Why not "butcher" a keyboard, and trace/use its on/off button interface and connector?

HI EOMtp,

I have been thinking of sacrificing a keyboard and cutting the traces, but it was looking for a more elegant solution. I will take a look at your idea about the docking station , just won a docking station for $0.99, (with shipping ) on E-bay.

Congratulations! I am curious if the debounce circuitry is in on the motherboard or elsewhere on path from the button to the motherboard. If you discover how it is set up, please let me know.

Hi EOMtp,

I figured out by trial and error that if you hook a wire to the chassis ground and then touch pin 6 of the keyboard connector ribbon with the same wire, the board will start:



I found the motherboard schematic on another site. I uploaded it to my site, you can grab it from here:

http://ohsmeg.com/stuff/Thinkpad_X61_schematic.pdf

My son has a degree in Electronics, (currently working on another in Computer Science). He said he will go over the schematics and see if there is a way to connect the button directly to the motherboard.

Impressive detective work (beyond finding the correct pin)! Thank you much for the information.

Thanks for your founding. I guess we can make jumper with external push button switch for between pin #6 and laptop chasis . Do you finally make a cable hack to power on/off your x61 to its keyboard? I want to know how did you make it at the end.