Hi, I have this old power switch that instead of going through the looking , buying,etc online. I want to solder the 2 wires myself. There is a small black box that comes out when pushed. I only have 2 wires 1 white and 1 being orange. I have noticed that only 2 of the bottom prongs on the black box have had solder on them. Does anyone know what wires go where? The middle prong and the 1 next to it are the soldered ones. Any ideas as I would rather fix this myself, but want to do it right. Thanks..Garry

Sorry Rick, but as you well know, buddy, I'm not computer savoy at all. I really don't know what you mean. I know that when I have to start my XP, I have to make contact with the orange wire to the middle prong while at the same time contacting the white wire to the left side and pushing the start button.. Another thing I've noticed is if I touch (not sure which ones) the wires to the prongs it will cause XP to shut down as if I used the button.

After re-examining your question, i believe it is yes

Thanks Rick, but something that is puzzling me is to start XP white to the left and orange to the middle,then I push the button and XP starts. What's puzzling is if, while running I contact the same wires to same prongs it logs me off and shuts down. If this is irrelevant. then I'll proceed with your above advise. thank Garry

Sorry for continuing to add. The parts that attach to my mobo are in separate parts e.g.HDD,Power led+,on so on. Could the question above (why the shutdown) be because I have the Pow Led+ and the Pow Led - crossed?

Rick, you're super! I got it now lol. Thanks big guy Garry

Will do just that. Need to get a hold of a small soldering iron, etc. as yet. Best of wishes Rick...Garry

Garry, I know the answer to your "puzzle". When the OS is running, in this case XP, and you press-and-release the power switch, the default action is a shutdown. You can view and change this setting as follows. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Power Options (under Performance and Maintenance in the category view). Choose the Advanced tab and under "Power buttons" you will see the setting, "When I press the power button on my computer:" and the selection will be on "Shut down". If you click on the drop-down list, you can see or select the other choices.

The "soft off" that Rick mentions is when you press-and-hold the power button for 4 seconds or more. In this situation, the computer will power off without doing a clean shutdown. This is for use when Windows is locked up or crashed and you can't shutdown cleanly anyway.