I'm trying to reuse a USB port I've been given. The wires are orange, brown,
red and black - everywhere I've looked on google for info on USB wire
colours I see white, red, black and green wire configurations.

Is there anyone here who can tell me which of these colours correspond to
which power lines - I already know the pinout from the motherboard - I just
need to know now which is brown which is orange and so on. I know red is
usually power and black is gnd, but a link to somewhere with these
particular colours would be really helpful if anyone knows of anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

- wrote:
Looking at the front of a USB port, the connections are (#1 on left):
#1 +5VPWR #2 -DATA #3 +DATA #4 GND

Just check the wire colors against their connection to the port,
using a multimeter or continunity testor. Red is usually +5V and black GND,
and -DATA is next to the +5V. This is usually true of the MB pinout,
as well.

Virg Wall
--
A foolish consistency is the
hobgoblin of little minds,........
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Microsoft programmer's manual.)

"-" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:bqdvjl$mep$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...

http://www.directron.com/installusb.html

Thanks - I had already read that article and seen that picture of the
coloured leads - I suppose I really was looking for some cross reference to
make sure that those colours are universal - the leads I'm using don't have
any writing on them to say what they are (obviously) and I would also really
like to know if the 2 ports are either USB 1 or 2. But it seems there's no
definitive answer to this question by wire colour alone. I'm not sure if I'm
prepared to risk it not knowing these essential facts before I begin.

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 17:14:17 -0000, "ck26"
<ck26@notarealemailaddress.com> wrote:

That's just it, there is a smei-standard arrangement but your port has
already deviated from that. We could ASSUME that's the only way it
deviates, that orange is data+ and brown data -, but it's not a safe
assumption to make.

You need to do one of two things, either:

A) See the pinout of the port that Virg Wall provided, then plug the
header into the board and use a voltage meter to check if the voltage
pins are correct (if the data wires aren't right on the first try,
device doesn't work, you can just swap those data wires, the voltage
wires are the ones that must be correct before attaching a device).
You must be careful not to short the 5V USB contact against the others
or the casing with the voltmeter probe.

B) Preferred solution - continuity check the USB motherboard plug to
the USB port "outlet" and swap wires to match to the motherboard pins
if necessary.


Dave