Front Panel HD Light Changed Colour

Clueless Mark · 5 Feb 2010 at 15:04

Just finished my first build, intalled OS and all is running well, but one thing is puzzling me, the front panel HD activity light, which used to be blue before I gutted the case of MB and drives for upgrades, is now red for disk activity?

How come? I thought I might have wired the pins wrong but it doesn't look like I have.

I updated motherboard from Asus P5VD2-MX to P5Q Deluxe, Hard drives from Maxtor 200gb to Seagate 1T and WD Caviar Black 1T, and added new processor Pentium 2 Duo. No Raid configured.

Any idea? :confused:

rpstewart · 5 Feb 2010 at 15:50

You can't change the colour of an LED by wiring it differently, it's only ever capable of one colour. Are you sure you've not used a different case LED from the one you used previously? What colour's your power LED now compared to before?

Guest2 · 5 Feb 2010 at 16:15

^ untrue. I had a 939 motherboard, ram and processor in my Antec Sonata 2 case. I stuck a 775 board, ram and processor in there and the power light has changed from green to amber

michael baxter · 5 Feb 2010 at 16:25

For regular LEDs, Rpstewart is correct, they can only emit a single colour. However, there are so called bicoloured LEDs, which are two LEDs in one package. The polarity of connection will determine which LED is illuminated. They are often found on TVs, to indicate whether the TV is on or in standby mode.

Recheck your wiring, and try reversing the polarity of this LED package.

Guest2 · 5 Feb 2010 at 16:32

i just closed the case door. now you cant see the lights. problem solved!

michael baxter · 5 Feb 2010 at 16:37

Lol, well that's one way to solve problem!

Btw, you should be able to just reverse the HD LED connection that goes to the MB, to get the same colour as before.

musicman53 · 5 Feb 2010 at 19:44

Clueless Mark said:
Just finished my first build, intalled OS and all is running well, but one thing is puzzling me, the front panel HD activity light, which used to be blue before I gutted the case of MB and drives for upgrades, is now red for disk activity?

How come? I thought I might have wired the pins wrong but it doesn't look like I have.

I updated motherboard from Asus P5VD2-MX to P5Q Deluxe, Hard drives from Maxtor 200gb to Seagate 1T and WD Caviar Black 1T, and added new processor Pentium 2 Duo. No Raid configured.

Any idea?

What make is the case and if you unplug the HD led, how many wires ?
If only two then there is no way it can change color, if three then maybe you connected 2 out of three that were not connected before.

Clueless Mark · 6 Feb 2010 at 12:49

rpstewart said:
You can't change the colour of an LED by wiring it differently, it's only ever capable of one colour. Are you sure you've not used a different case LED from the one you used previously? What colour's your power LED now compared to before?

It's now red was blue!

Clueless Mark · 6 Feb 2010 at 12:52

Guest2 said:
i just closed the case door. now you cant see the lights. problem solved!

Lol, yes that's kind of what I've done, but everytime I open the door and see that red light I go all funny inside.

My main concern was that it was red for a warning, but all seems well so guess I will have to live with it

musicman53 · 6 Feb 2010 at 16:11

Clueless Mark said:
Lol, yes that's kind of what I've done, but everytime I open the door and see that red light I go all funny inside.

My main concern was that it was red for a warning, but all seems well so guess I will have to live with it

If you say what case it is then maybe we would know if the led was two color or not.
If there are only two wires then there is no way it can change from blue to red.

Outpost262 · 6 Feb 2010 at 17:17

musicman53 said:
...if you unplug the HD led, how many wires ?
If only two then there is no way it can change color...

Two lead bi- (and tri-) colour LEDs are very common nowadays. There are two diodes in the one bulb connected in antiparallel, and colour selection depends on current direction (the third colour on twin lead tri-colour units is obtained by rapidly switching between the two actual colours and relying on persistance of vision to give the appearance of a third).

So it's at least possible that a change in motherboard has resulted in a change in current flow direction to the HD LED, even if the OP has connected it in the same way as before. Not sure if that's the case here, but it is possible.

Guest2 · 6 Feb 2010 at 18:23

After refitting none of mine are on now. The power switch and reset switch works though

rpstewart · 6 Feb 2010 at 18:43

Guest2 said:
After refitting none of mine are on now.

Try reversing the connection - LEDs only work with a specific polarity.