Thinkpads Forum

I am planning on adding USB 2.0 ports to one of my SelectaDock III units by adding a PCI card into the back slots. I was thinking of getting one of the PCI cards that has internal USB 2.0 connectors as well as the standard 4 external ones in order to use the internal connectors to replace the built-in USB 1 ports on the SelectaDock III. If I could disable the two internal USB 1 slots that appear at the front left of the SelectaDock III, remove the hardware that is attached to them, and rig up extension cables that led back to the PCI card, then that would allow me to have two USB 2.0 slots at the front left as well as 4 at the back.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? In particular, will I be able to boot up my 600X or 770Z in the SelectaDock III if I remove some of the built-in SelectaDock III hardware? It occurs to me that there might be some kind of BIOS-level startup testing that might generate errors if I remove or disable the built-in USB 1 ports on the dock.

Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Phil.

I cross-posted this over on the ThinkPad mailing list, but did not hear much back over there either.

I will post updates to both locations and then consolidate final results when they are ready.

Here's where things are at so far:

I disassembled the SelectaDock III to take a look at how the current front USB connectors are attached and found that they are attached to a small PCB board with a pair of transistors(?), some simple etched lines with resistors (?), and a 1x10 male "header" connector. This board is IBM P/N 12J2496.

I found a 6-port PCI USB 2.0 card that has 2 "internal" ports. If I take out the built-in connector board I think I can just run USB 2.0 cables from the PCI card through to the front ports and use some kind of electrical tape or other jury-rigged system to hold them in place.

But before I do that, I've decided to try to use the built-in receptacles by plugging into the board that is alread there. The current plug can be pulled out easily. The female 1x10 plug separates out into two sets of 5 wires that lead back to two 1x5 plugs on the "motherboard" of the SelectaDock III.

I found a USB A -> 1x5 female connector cable here:
http://www.frontx.com/cpx505.html

I've ordered two of these internal cables. It looks like the pinouts of the 1x5 connector are not identical to the original, but the wire colours look the same and I gather that this kind of pinout variation is common on desktops, so I am hoping to be able to adjust the order of the wires on the two 1x5 connectors and then line them up into the 1x10 connection.

Apparently these front panel USB connectors are normal in desktop cases, but people with regular desktops have mixed results when they try to use their built-in receptacles with a PCI USB card and connector. And I still don't know if the system will boot if I disconnect the current 1x10 connector and leave it attached to nothing.

If my current plan doesn't work, then I'll have to turn to the electrical tape or something I guess.

Phil.