Repurposing Dell USB-C front connector.

I got a USB front panel connector going to a USB 3.0 Motherboard connector from a Dell computer.

The cable had a USB 3.0 type A and USB 3.0 Type-C receptacles. There was also a dual USB 3.0 Type A receptacles to USB 3.0 motherboard connector.

I got an adapter cable to see if I could make use of the Type-C receptacle. The adapter only worked for the dual Type-A front panel connector.

I found this post which mentioned a different pinout for the 20 pin motherboard connector.

Indeed the VBUS does not go to the right pins. Using a USB-A cable pigtail, I validated the following connection on the 20 pin cable ( not motherboard ).

The above was confirmed by continuity testing for the USB-A receptacle ( pins 11 to 19).

I removed the 20 pin motherboard cable and connected a regular USB-A cable.

Overall the USB-C works, however PC->Device link seem to have some issue. Perhaps the power path is not able to carry the necessary current. Need to add additional VBUS / GND wire. Or perhaps the 5V VBUS was not too good for the ASM1464 chip.

The TYPE-C pinout is

• D+
• D-
• GND
• SS Rx+
• SS Rx-
• GND
• SS Tx+
• SS Tx-
• VBUS
• VBUS