Member Avatar for frankmuir

Hello.

I've just bought an Asus TA210 case, which in general I am very pleased with, looks nice, etc. etc. (apart from the sticking CD ROM stealth bay).

I didn't get any form of documentation with it, just a case in an Asus box (I bought from a computer wholesaler), so I'm not exactly sure what features it's meant to have. From what I can gather from the very limited info I found on the net, it's meant to have a blue power-on LED, and different colour HDD LED.
Now I've established that it has two LED's in the front, HDD and power on. THe HDD led chugs away fine, and is an amber coloured led which flicks on and off, but I haven't ,managed to get the power LED to come on. I'm not even sure what colour it's meant to be, or whether it is a "dual" LED or anything.

I have even tried putting the power LED leads to the HDD LED connections on the Mainboard as a test of the LED(to swap them) I was suggested by someone, but nothing.

THe mainboard is just for now an old P3 board out of a Packard Bell Saturn (funny version of a MS6309 - different jumpers from the regular one), to be upgraded to a p4 in a while.
I have had this mboard in another case and the power led came on fine, so that rules out the jumpers on the mboard right?

I don't really want the hassle of RMA'ing it - it seems wierd that the LED should have gone, have any of you got any advice, am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for any replies

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mr_lb

Dani AI

Generated

A few focused, practical checks that build on 's description and 's polarity tip. These will quickly tell you whether the fault is the LED itself, the front-panel wiring, or the board/header.

  1. Confirm the front-panel connector: look for a tiny marking on the plastic plug (PWR_LED, PLED, + or -). If the plug is unlabeled, trace the wires back to the LED lens—positive is often the colored wire.
  2. Inspect the harness and LED assembly behind the bezel. Tug gently and look for broken solder joints or a loose 2–3 pin connector where the wires meet the plastic PCB. Physical breaks are common with inexpensive cases.
  3. Test the LED itself outside the case. With the front-panel unplugged, remove the LED module and touch its two leads to a 3V coin cell (or use a multimeter diode-test). If it lights, the LED is good; if not, the LED is dead. If reversing polarity changes the color or makes it light only one way, it’s a bi-color device and needs the correct wiring/connector.
  4. Check the motherboard header only if comfortable doing so: with the system powered, carefully measure across the PWR_LED pins using a DMM (avoid shorting pins). You should see a small DC voltage when the system is on. Voltage present + dead LED = LED/wiring fault; no voltage = board/header issue.
  5. Replacement and quick fixes: a standard 3mm or 5mm LED will usually swap in—match lens size and polarity. If it’s a bi-color LED, either replace with the same type or use a single-color LED and a two-pin adapter.

Keep work static-safe and power off when disconnecting/reconnecting. These steps will narrow the problem without RMA and point to whether a simple LED replacement or a wiring repair is needed.

Member Avatar for mr_lb

Make sure the polarities are correct (+ and - are correctly connected). Other than that, the led could be dead, because you've already tested with the hdd connector. Any electronics store should be able to supply a replacement.

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