Need power connection help, ASUS Xonar Essence STX

[beachbum5397]

After having to send back what appeared to be a defective Creative Titanium HD soundcard, I thought I would give the ASUS Xonar Essence STX a try. I got that card today but now I'm stumped. After opening the package I find out that the card has to be hooked to a power source but no cables came with the card for same. I see the connector is a 4-pin type and I remember seeing those in my old Dell PC, but it looks as if the cabling in my HP Pavillion p7 1210 uses all SATA cables. The only wire I see that might remotely fit is one wire that would probably provide power for a second CD-ROM, it's a black connector, but even there I don't have anything that mates that to a 4-pin white connector. My computer uses a Holley motherboard and I see that there are a couple of what look like open SATA connectors almost in the very middle of the motherboard, but since I'm legally blind I cannot really tell that deep in, just what I'm seeing. Can anybody who might be familiar with this computer tell me if there's another spot I should be looking for to provide power for this soundcard? As I said the only thing I see is a cluster of four little connectors, two of which are used, and they all appear to be different colors but feel the same. I really don't want to have to take this in to a computer shop just to have them hook up the sound card, if I can help it. Gee, the titanium didn't require power like this, not that I know of, but had too many problems with the Titanium to go over it again. If this card won't work, will have to resort to a Xonar DGX card and will just have to content myself with it unless I want to pony up for a good USB card.
 
One other thing, where do I get these Uni Xonar drivers from? any help appreciated. Please write me directly if you can, at powersradio1@charter.net. I am finding it most difficult to navigate this site which is not behaving well with the screen magnification software I use that blows up everything on screen to 6X. It requires a lot of mousing to go from left to right on the screen and as I type this post the cursor is not auto-panning meaning I must stop and move the moouse over every few words to see what I'm typing or else type blind. This is one of those sites that is not accessible for a visually impaired person, and I hope that will change soon.
 
Thanks for any help.
 
Bill

 

[BIKeINSTEIN]

The power connector (from power supply) that fits older IDE optical/hard drives and is used to power case fans, etc is not there in your PC? 
http://www.google.co.in/imgres?um=1&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=681&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=_sZIxX4D9U48TM:&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Molex_female_connector.jpg&docid=92WbyoFbsKlcXM&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Molex_female_connector.jpg&w=2048&h=1366&ei=_AfpUZ6-FsSmlAXW_YHQCA&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:0,s:0,i:87&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=169&tbnw=270&start=0&ndsp=11&tx=175&ty=76
 
http://www.google.co.in/imgres?um=1&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=681&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=4hfllp4QtJ0sDM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ixtreme.net/open-forum/11052-ck3-pro-ck3-probe-x360usbpro.html&docid=T-h0kAVjAl89RM&imgurl=http://www.ixtreme.net/attachments/open-forum/668d1311115417-ck3-pro-ck3-probe-x360usbpro-tutorial-4pin_molex_power_conn.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=_AfpUZ6-FsSmlAXW_YHQCA&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:7,s:0,i:108&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=184&tbnw=237&start=0&ndsp=11&tx=88&ty=78
 
STX>
http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/images/reviews/audio/Xonar_Essence_STX/ASUS_Xonar_Essence_STX_Molex.jpg

 

[beachbum5397]

Thanks for your reply. As best I can see by poking around inside the computer, there is only one cable that's not attached somewhere, and that cable comes off the CD-ROM connector that powers CD-ROM #1 and this connector would be used to power the second CD-ROM, but it's a black connector without pins. It looks like all the other cables I can find in the computer are the smaller orange SATA type cables. I don't readily see any slots on the motherboard for a 4-pin connector, in fact the only things I see open are two small SATA connectors just about in the middle of the motherboard, and I notice by looking at apicture on the HP p7 Pavillion 1210 spec spage with Holley motherboard picture that each of those connectors is a different color. I see no explanation anywhere on those connectors. I was hoping among the bundles of wires that I would see another unused connector of some type but no such luck. This computer was just purchased last year so its connectors seem to be a newer type than what I've been used to and I don't readily see anything that uses the Mulex connectors except for the connector into the CD-ROM, so I'm now officially stumped. How nice it would have been if ASUS would have included a cable assembly in the package rather than causing me to have to scramble all over Kingom Come to find an appropriate cable. Since I am legally blind, I travel around by bus and can't just shuttle from store to store even here in the Los Angeles area to find a cable for this thing, yet without it, the card is completely useless. I tried to copy the link here from the spec page I was referring to but copy/aste would not work. I googled hp pavillion p7 1210 specifications, and I was taken to the page that gave me the whole rundown on the computer. Of course the motherboard pic is uncluttered with all the wiring and I can magnify the picture on screen but it still tells me little of what I need to know since there's only so much I can see. If you have any further thoughts please do let me know. Thanks again for your links.

 

[BIKeINSTEIN]

For the DIY PC guys, almost every power supply, from entry-level ones to high-end gold-rated ones, still have these connectors available.
Whatever power connector you need will originate from your power supply and not the motherboard.
Can you please post a picture/image/photo of the cables/connectors available from your power supply?

 

[BIKeINSTEIN]

Is this the PC you have?
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c03157407#N1379
 
Where are you located, if not a problem?

 

[beachbum5397]

Yesthat is the same PC that I have. I have taken a couple of pics for the inside but not sure if they will be a lot of help. Now I have to try to figure out how to post them here. I'm still getting used to navigating this site and icons all seem very small. I am located in Temple City, California, which is near Pasadena. You know what's a real honker, this is a pretty metro area (LA County) and yet I don't really see that many computer stores. Sure there's Beast Buy but they charge an arm and a leg for everythinng. Thanks for your reply.
 
I just tried to see if I can insert a pic of my computer but got error message saying I don't have permission to insert an image.
 
Thanks,
 
beachbum5397

 

[beachbum5397]

I wanted to come back with an update on my problem with fitting the ASUS soundcard with a power cable. Since I don't have sighted help here I had to trot my sound card down to an electronics store where they also sell computer parts and showed them what I was dealing with, and we finally figured out that I needed a female Molex to male SATA cable, but they didin't have such a plug. This would all have been so simple if HP had provided adequate wiring from their power supply but no, what they left me with was a female SATA cable that was reserved for CD-ROM #2 were I to install one. All the spare cables I have are female Molex so of course i couldn't just snap one on to the connector meant for CD-2 to run over to the soundcard via a Molex female to plug into the card. I have one on order from Amazon so hopefully in a couple more days we'll see if I have success. After seeing how inadequate this power supply wiring really is, I vow never to get another HP computer if they're all made that way now. though this could be a trend of all companies, though I hope not. The kink in my search though was a stupid one on my part, and here I'm admitting it. I looked at the instructions and thought I was following them carefully but when I would look at the jack on the card, I was looking at the wrong one (I actually was looking at aux in), so the size difference in those 4 pins was confusing me. The guy at the shop pointed out my error today so at least now I'm on the right track with the connectors.Having a lot less sight than I would like does sometimes have its disadvantages and then getting flustered on top of it doesn't help. Now anyway, hopefully in a couple of days I'll be playing music through the card and enjoying it. If it doeosn't work right after all this, it will go back and I'll just have to come up with another card that my system will like.
 
Meanwhile, I want to thank those who helped me here on this forum and on the BlindTech forum in trying to figure out this business of connecting the soundcard. I am very displeased that ASUS chose to stick with Molex making it far more difficult to do a cable connection for power. I wonder if there was some technical reason why they chose to do this or was it just laziness on their part?
 
I'll post here when I get the cable and let you know how the card works out for me.
 
Thanks again for all the help, and sorry for any confusion.
 
Bill