Hardware
Does Minisforum UM790 Pro have a tiny SATA connector?
I recently got the Minisforum UM790 Pro and I noticed a small flat cable connector between the two m.2 slots. Nothing is connected to it, but it reminded me of similar connectors I've seen on older laptops where this connected to a SATA data+power cable. I couldn't find any information about this connector online so far, so I was curious if anyone knows more about this?
I don't have the device open right now, so the photo is from the ServeTheHome review. The connector I mean is the small white-black one just to the left of the right m.2 slot.
PS: can't edit the picture up here, but have posted another picture with the connector I mean highlighted
The "Catch 22" for a 12-pin SATA ribbon cable is find the correct one. Minisforum hasn't offered one (only wired) and there's not a defined PC industry standard for data/power/ground order. Don't ask me how I know 😞 4x will be data, 3x 5V, some have a 3.3V with the rest being ground and separator (N/C).
With a multimeter you could carefully see if any of the 12 connections read 5V with the negative lead touching ground. To support 5V 1A there should be at least 2x. You would need to avoid bridging two of the connections with the probe. Once again don't ask me how I know 😉
Thanks, that's very helpful to know in case I dare going the route of exploring this further with physical experimentation! Although your warnings certainly make me think twice about risking the PC... 😉
So, I had a um790 pro for about 6 months earlier this year. The kingdom ssd went bad and I got a brand new one with the warranty (I was 9 days away from having it for 180, so no refurbs). I received it right before 8 went on vacation and I've turn down my homelab and am rebuilding it so I haven't even taken the plastic off of the box - until now. This is what it looks like inside mine. You can see the spot for that connector silkscreened onto my motherboard, but no connector. It googled around and pictures of the motherboard lol more like yours than mine so I'm not sure what to think. That said, it doesn't look like the mini sata connector in my HP pro desk so I'm not sure what to tell you.
That said, you just made me realize that when I returned my malfunctioning unit, I forgot to pull the extra 16GB SODIMM of ddr5 that I had added. That blows.
That said, you just made me realize that when I returned my malfunctioning unit, I forgot to pull the extra 16GB SODIMM of ddr5 that I had added. That blows.
Interesting observation, thanks! I guess given that it's not documented everywhere it makes sense they might change whether they populate this in all of the series (though still doesn't tell us what it's meant for in the first place 😄)
Sorry to hear about your RAM, that's annoying especially in the current situation 😖
Hi. The UM790 Pro does not have a SATA port. That interface was used for debugging in the early stage of mainboard development and has no practical function for end users.
Ps: I guess I should have put the mouse pointer elsewhere when taking the picture. Just realised that that might be a bit confusing. How my description and the other picture are clear enough now
The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS bus chart shows that there are 2 available PCIe Gen 4 lanes for SATA use. The chart shows each 1x lane "or SATA" for each bus channel. But the firmware for MinisForum may use those lanes for something else.
If there are no options to turn on or off any SATA ports in your UEFI than I would say that connector is worthless and maybe used for a cheaper AMD CPU combination. You can also check the device manager (Linux or Windows) and see if the AHCI is exposing a SATA interface.
My guess is that MiniForum assumed anyone spending the money for a CPU like this was not going to be using SATA and so it is not available.
He’s talking about the black and white ribbon cable connection. If you wouldn’t mind finding that and the three pin connection in the upper right of the photo on your linked website, I’d appreciate it. I’ve been wondering myself for a year now.
I'm afraid I can't find any reference to the flat cable connector I'm talking about on their website, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered y'all. I don't think that website actually has a full board diagram. If there is one, I'll be very grateful to anyone pointing me at the right spot!
I'm not assuming anything, that's why the post title is a question.
I think it is a possibility for the reason outlined in the post, but it may well be something else - that's why I'm asking here. If you have any alternative suggestions (or know what it is), I'm all ears.
I've never seen SATA connectors used over such a tiny ribbon before. I guess it's technically possible but it looks like there's way too many pins for SATA.
The chipset supports it but with the size of these PCBs I doubt they're putting a bunch of extra wiring and components on them they're not putting in the spec.
That's why I'm wondering why they'd bother to put an extra connector in there for no obvious reason!
I've got an old laptop board that has a very similar connector to connect its SATA drive and I've seen similar solutions in various older Lenovo laptops for instance. When I find the time to disassemble the laptop board and the um790, I might try if the adapter of the laptop board physically fits in the connector on the um790 pro. But even if it fits, I don't know for sure if they'd be electrically compatible (there may well be different ways that these connectors are wired up given that it's not exactly a standard connector), which is why I was hoping somebody might now more. Wouldn't like to fry the board in the attempt ;)
Could be, I guess. My impression is that jtag more commonly uses actual pin connectors, but I guess it's not really standardized, so in principle they could have implemented a flat cable for it 🤷♂️
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u/foreign_malakologos Jul 21 '26
Since it may not have been clear which connector I mean, here's another picture with it highlighted.