Help unlock the AAO Secrets

Needed a dead AAO motherboard

To reverse engineer the location of the eighth USB port on the SSD connector

and Determine the location of PCI-e wires going to the daughter card, with the hope of making the 3G card slot a full PCI-e slot. Currently the 3G slot is for USB cards only. Wimax and HDSPA are USB but WiFi is PCI-e.

I will pay shipping

Can discover other secrets by request, post your requests here.

 

All 8 usb ports have been found
-3 usb connector on the motherboard (1 on left and 2 on right)
-1 usb connector for the webcam
-1 usb port on the "3g card slot"
-3 used usb port on the bottom

 

Could you please show me the exact positions of the last "3 used usb ports on the bottom"?

I only know two of them. One is nested in CN11 and the other comes with WIFI slot. And both are not on the bottom.

 

http://www.liliputing.com/2008/09/how-to-order-spare-parts-for-an-acer-aspire-one.html

There's a link to a service manual within that post that shows connector locations on the mobo that might help you out.

 

3 external usb ports (1 left and 2 right)
1 usb used for web camera
1 usb used for 3G slot
1 usb unused at CN11 (On motherboard)
1 usb used for WiFi slot

This leaves one unidentified USB port of the eight total. The Service Manual shows this eighth port as being in the SSD connector.

It is a simple matter to locate the two USB, D+ and D- wires after removing the North Bridge from a dead motherboard.

 

You are right. That's what the service manual says. But I still have my suspicions. How can a standard ZIF/ATA port carry USB D- and D+ pins, since all the 40 pins are predefined and comply with the standard ZIF-40 pinout, which has nothing to do with USB connection.

 

Pins 1 and 2 are not defined, plus some others.

 

Yes, PIN 1 and 2 are reserved by the definition. But that doesn't mean they can be redefined as USB D- and D+. Don't you think it's way too strange to do that? Such an arbitrary revision to the standard specs causes problem. If that is applicable, every manufacturer may define its PIN 1 and 2 in a certain way and leave the compatibility problem to users.

Besides, I can not find any other pin which is reserved.

 

I was thinking of pins 35, 36, and 37.

All the D+ and D- leads I have measured on this motherboard have been like 90 to 100 ohms, I'll try measuring between pins 1 and 2 today.
EDIT, no luck pins 1 and 2 are 0 ohms.


40 PIN ZIP (0.5mm pitch) at the drive.

Pin Name Dir Description
1 ? ? (factory use)
2 ? ? (factory use)
3 /RESET Reset
4 GND Ground
5 DD7 Data 7
6 DD8 Data 8
7 DD6 Data 6
8 DD9 Data 9
9 DD5 Data 5
10 DD10 Data 10
11 DD4 Data 4
12 DD11 Data 11
13 DD3 Data 3
14 DD12 Data 12
15 DD2 Data 2
16 DD13 Data 13
17 DD1 Data 1
18 DD14 Data 14
19 DD0 Data 0
20 DD15 Data 15
21 GND Ground
22 DMARQ DMA Request
23 GND Ground
24 /DIOW Write Strobe
25 /DIOR Read Strobe
26 GND Ground
27 IORDY I/O Ready
28 GND Ground
29 /DMACK DMA Acknowledge
30 INTRQ Interrupt Request
31 DA1 Address 1
32 /PDIAG Passed Diagnostics
33 DA0 Address 0
34 DA2 Address 2
35 /CS0 ?
36 /CS1 ?
37 /DASP ?
38 +3.3V +3.3 VDC
39 +3.3V +3.3 VDC
40 DEVADR Master/Slave selection

 

35~37 are not undefined.

35 and 36 are defined as I/O port access line. CS0 corresponds to port 1f0~1f7 and CS1 corresponds to 3f0~3f7, as can be found in the I/O port list of Master IDE Channel in windows device manager. /DASP is the led driver signal. These three have their counterparts in a normal 40pin ATA definition, where they are numbered as 37~39.