The Dreaded newbie Question!!!

**eddiedredge** · 04-23-2009, 06:42 AM

Ok so

I have built and installed my car PC. I have use an Atom 1.6 motherboard with a M2-atx PSU. Now I have wired it all in and it turned on perfectly when I started the car. Wooooo hoooooo. Boy was I chuffed with my self. OHHH YESSSS! Any way I then disconnected the power and ground cables and then started to see which jumper setting I wanted. This is where the probs began. No matter what setting I put the jumper on the PSU dose not at any point hibernate or standby the computer. Usual within a minute it goes straight to hard shut down. Very frustrating.

Now this is where you pro car pc'ers might shout at me. For connivence I wired it in to the stereo loom and have since read that that is not the best way to do it as its not always constant during crank. Is that correct? if so what would be the best option for wiring the car. I think I will run an 8 gauge wire from the battery anyway with two inline fuses which will then go to a splitter in the boot for the amp and the PC, but am I ok to take the ignition line from the original car Stereo loom or not. And is it this that is causing me to have hard shut down all the time?

I'm really sorry if you have covered this a million times, as I know it can be frustrating, but any help is greatly appreciated. I'm not a car electrical expert far from it, so a real child like break down would be really helpful.

Many thanks in advance

**eddiedredge** · 04-23-2009, 01:06 PM

Biump bump

**2k1Toaster** · 04-23-2009, 01:42 PM

It hasnt even been a day, calm down a bit...

Wiring from the stock harness is a bad idea for many reasons. You list one reason, but the real danger comes from those lines not beeing beefy enough to handle the load of a computer + amp + screen. Meaning they will heat up. Pull enough power, and they will heat up to the point of melting the insulation off. Then it touches the chassis and sparks, and then fire... All can happen very fast when driving.

Run a seperate line from the battery no matter what.

As to the M2 problem, is probably the wrong polarity on the J8 wire that goes from M2 to mobo. Flip 1 side of it. Also make sure that it is connected to the power button pins, not reset or something else. Sometimes finding pin 1 on the board vs. the manual is difficult, so you may have it on the mirrored pins.

**eddiedredge** · 04-23-2009, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

It hasnt even been a day, calm down a bit...

Wiring from the stock harness is a bad idea for many reasons. You list one reason, but the real danger comes from those lines not beeing beefy enough to handle the load of a computer + amp + screen. Meaning they will heat up. Pull enough power, and they will heat up to the point of melting the insulation off. Then it touches the chassis and sparks, and then fire... All can happen very fast when driving.

Run a seperate line from the battery no matter what.

As to the M2 problem, is probably the wrong polarity on the J8 wire that goes from M2 to mobo. Flip 1 side of it. Also make sure that it is connected to the power button pins, not reset or something else. Sometimes finding pin 1 on the board vs. the manual is difficult, so you may have it on the mirrored pins.

What can I say, I'm a keen enthusiastic young man !!

Thanks for the reply, its much appreciated. Could you help me out with the M2 to MOBO bit. I'm not sure what that means? thanks in advance

EDIT; I'm a uneducated Di%&head. I now realize MOBO means mother board!!! DOHHHH