Hi, I have recently purchaced an Epox KM400 micro atx motherboard. While I am certainly in the market for a good sound card very soon, I need something to tide me over until I can get the sound card I want. This motherboard conveniently has pretty decent on board sound, so this would serve as a good compromise until then. It also had a SPDIF out which is something I definitely need to hear sound as I only have a Dolby digital external decoder and 7.1 surround sound system which I use to process all my sound. (Much better than having the onboard sound do any work). Anyhoo.... To cut a long story short, miserly old Epox have decided not to supply a digital SPDIF connector kit with the board, even though it clearly has this functionality. Fortunately I have a digital SPDIF connector kit from another motherboard just lying around being unused. I have looked closely at this connector kit and it seems to be a perfect fit. Not surprising perhaps as both boards are very recent VIA chip sets. However my electrical knowledge isn't great. (Although I have successfully built about 12 computers in the last 3 years). The colour coding for the wires on the SPDIF connector is not immediately clear to me. At a guess I would say red=live white=nic (whatever that is) and black=gnd is this correct, or would I fry my computer if I used this configuration? I don't use the word 'fry' lightly, since not all that long ago I actually did manage to fry a (Gigabyte) motherboard by getting the SPDIF connector the wrong way round. It was no joke, because in frying the motherboard I fried everything else too, including the processor, memory harddrives, CDROM drives, you name it. Everything died. (It caused a massive power surge that just ran through everything - including me at the time. So naturally I'm not very keen to repeat that experience.

All advice is welcome.

Q

I guess no one know about polarity then...

Oh well...

Q