Stereo jacks on the front of PC doesn't function

[Tracker]

Hey all,

On the front of my pc, at the top i have a panel which includes a pair of stereo jacks (one for microphone, one for headphone speakers), however neither of these appear to be functioning.

case in question is Haf-X, i have a Fatality pro soundcard installed, all the ports at the back appear to work ok.

I have tested the four usb ports at the front (2xusb2, 2xusb3) and all appear to be functioning, however the jacks just don't seem to want to output or input sound anywhere. opening up my audio manager however will show up the full set of 6 ports at the back, and includes two "front panel" ports, i've tried downloading all the latest creative drivers, can't seem to get them to function.

are they meant to be active?

~T

 

[vanthus]

The front jacks wont work when a soundcard is installed.

 

[Tracker]

O.K.. not too much of a problem as i can route headphone jacks through my keyboard to the back. Need to work out how to configure this soundcard properly though, i want to channel all sound through it and have it output via my speakers when a headphone isn't plugged in, and via headphone when it is plugged in.. up till now sounds just been going via the realtek sound ports.

 

[vanthus]

On the circuit board of your soundcard there's a standard front-panel connector, so front headphone and mic jacks can be hooked up to the card if you really need them.

 

[Teaz]

I think it should work since the Fatal1ty sound card has a port for it. you should open up the case an check the connection, looking from your spec, i dont see why it cant be used unless it wasnt connected in the first place?

 

[vanthus]

My front jacks are not connected ,i dont really need them so never got round to connecting them to the soundcard.On reflection it could be because of an incompatibility that PCS did not connect them.
Having said that i have a different sound card,so you should check with tech support Trackeri before connecting them.

 

[Teaz]

even if the sound card doesnt it should have no problems connecting to the motherboard connection? since trackeri has a Fatal1ly pro there should be a provided connection like this one:

The audio/mic/headphone cable for the haf x should looke like this one:

 

[vanthus]

Yes,I believe that's the connection I mentioned "Front Panel header pins".normally you would unplug the front jack cable from the motherboard & plug it into that connection on the soundcard.
Thing is it wont work with some creative soundcards,I remember now on some thread months ago being told by PCS"Please note some Creative soundcards cannot be used in conjunction with the front panel audio"

 

[Tracker]

i will have a look at it tonight, though i'll be a lil upset if all it involves is connecting the cables up. my main reason for doing so is that the physical act of plugging into the headphone jacks disables the speaker outputs, making it easy to switch between them, whereas if i have to have my phones wired into the back, it means alot of fumbling around (and possibley fiddeling with a bunch of software settings).

 

[Tracker]

Opened it up and i can find the HD Audio one (9pin) but theres no sign of the other one.. odd!

the main problem i'm having, is that i can get the card to output sound via my speakers (2.1 via a single jack), however i've no way of getting sound to switch to my headphones without physically unplugging the speakers and plugging the phones into the back jack. if i'm playing into the evening / late night then the people around me don't quite appreciate the clanging of steel or the staccato rattle of automatic gunfire the way that i do, so being able to switch between the two as easily as possible is pretty much paramount.

i note that the card has a option to "mute speakers if headphone jack is connected" hence why i wanted to connect that up, but there doesn't seem any way to do this with the cabling present. I can have the headphones connected via my realtek ports and use it that way but again, this defeats the object of having the sound card, and still leaves me having to physically disable the appropriate settings via my sound panel.

having opened the thing up, it appears that the front panel is most definitely connected up to the sound card already, just it doesn't seem to want to recognise it. if anyone has a link to this "Thing is it wont work with some creative soundcards,I remember now on some thread months ago being told by PCS"Please note some Creative soundcards cannot be used in conjunction with the front panel audio" thing, as it's the first i've heard of it and is causing me a massive headache at the moment! if it was a case of going for a different model of sound card, i would've done had i known, wonder if, if that is the case, i'd be able to return and get a different one?

 

[vanthus]

There is a setting in the bios that allows you to enable or disable the HD audio controller.when this is enabled you can then set front panel audio connector to legacy AC97 or HD,depending on the audio standard the front audio panel supports.According to my soundcard manual(I have the sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium PCI Express) It says
"Intel HD Front Panel Audio standard only.
Not compatible with AC97 or Intel-compatible HD Front Panel Audio"
My case manual says the front panel connections have AC97 & Azalia Intel HD.
so i set the bios setting to HD & now my front headphone jack is working & it mutes the speakers.
Before doing this maybe you should call tech support,or at least read your sound card manual.

 

[Tracker]

Have contacted Tech support as of yesterday whom responded this morning so i'll be going through them with it over the phone on friday. i do remember seeing a "Front panel" setting in the bios but figured i'd leave it be rather than mess around with anything, bare in mind that the cable in question is directly connected to the sound card so should the mobo be able to interefere with that port itself anyway?

 

[vanthus]

Have contacted Tech support as of yesterday whom responded this morning so i'll be going through them with it over the phone on friday. i do remember seeing a "Front panel" setting in the bios but figured i'd leave it be rather than mess around with anything, bare in mind that the cable in question is directly connected to the sound card so should the mobo be able to interefere with that port itself anyway?

Well the sound card is connected to the motherboard through PCIe,so i guess it's possible.
Although iv'e got mine working now,i,m still not sure I should be using it with the bios setting i have,but if i'm reading the manuals correctly I think it should be ok.
Although I don't have the same creative soundcard as you have,I would be interested to know how you get on,if you don't mind that is.

 

[Tracker]

the BIOS setting is HD Audio Enable/Disable (default Enabled) SPDIF Enable/Disable (Default Enabled) and HD Front Panel HD/AC947 (Default HD) tried disabling the panel and not, and having it on the AC or the HD, no go. Left on defaults again and will go through the motions with tech support tomorrow.

the socket is live, that much i know as plugging it in causes the speakers on the headphones to "pop" as they do when you plug them in and out of live jacks, just the system seems unaware of them. I'll keep reporting back until i sort the issue.

 

[Tracker]

OK! update on this.

Just a quick note: PCS Technical support don't seem to know of any issue affecting soundblaster cards and front panel audio jacks.

having taken the thing apart again, pulling the card out and unscrewing the shielding away, it turns out that the jack wasn't wired to it properly, and was shifted over by three rows of pins. i reseated the connector so it was connected to all 9 pins and (in a process that took about half an hour) reseated the shielding and connected it all back up. the sound blaster card is a pain to attach the shielding in particular but i got there eventually.

booted it all up and viola, the jack is recognised, plugging in my headphones mutes my speakers and it all comes out via my headphones! so t hatwas the problem.

i have 2 issues now however, one is that plugging the headphones and mic in at the same time gives a growing "hiss" in the background, which dissapears when i speak into the mic, and then grows louder until i speak again. the other is that upon unplugging the headphones, the sound goes off and nothing comes out of anywhere again.

i assume i'll be able to sort the hiss by mucking about with the levels, but for the sound to go off when unplugging may be a driver issue or such, it requires a full pc reboot to get the sound to come out anywhere again. on thep hone to teech support as i type so that they can give the settings a good going-through.

 

[samx300]

OK! update on this.

Just a quick note: PCS Technical support don't seem to know of any issue affecting soundblaster cards and front panel audio jacks.

having taken the thing apart again, pulling the card out and unscrewing the shielding away, it turns out that the jack wasn't wired to it properly, and was shifted over by three rows of pins. i reseated the connector so it was connected to all 9 pins and (in a process that took about half an hour) reseated the shielding and connected it all back up. the sound blaster card is a pain to attach the shielding in particular but i got there eventually.

booted it all up and viola, the jack is recognised, plugging in my headphones mutes my speakers and it all comes out via my headphones! so t hatwas the problem.

i have 2 issues now however, one is that plugging the headphones and mic in at the same time gives a growing "hiss" in the background, which dissapears when i speak into the mic, and then grows louder until i speak again. the other is that upon unplugging the headphones, the sound goes off and nothing comes out of anywhere again.

i assume i'll be able to sort the hiss by mucking about with the levels, but for the sound to go off when unplugging may be a driver issue or such, it requires a full pc reboot to get the sound to come out anywhere again. on thep hone to teech support as i type so that they can give the settings a good going-through.

After you take out the headphones, switch the default audio playback device to your speakers (or the rear connections). This can be done by right clicking on the small speaker on the right hand corner of Win 7 system tray. I have a X-Fi Extreme Gamer Sound card and my HAF X is wired properly. Had no issues hooking up (or unhooking) headphones

 

[Tracker]

After you take out the headphones, switch the default audio playback device to your speakers (or the rear connections). This can be done by right clicking on the small speaker on the right hand corner of Win 7 system tray. I have a X-Fi Extreme Gamer Sound card and my HAF X is wired properly. Had no issues hooking up (or unhooking) headphones

the -only- non disabled playback device currently is my X-Fi Fatality Pro card, everything comes in and goes out via that, it's not a case of it defaulting to the wrong output or such, i can physically see the levels going up and down for my X-fi but nothing comes out of any of the outputs.

the problem is that the card goes silent whenever a change is made to the setup, if you unplug and replug the rear port, you cannot get sound out of it until you restart the machine, windows shows that the sounds still trying to play via the card but nothing actually comes out, this is the main reason why the headphone jacks are paramount to it actually working.

the problem is that the stereojacks at the front will cause this issue, plugging them in and out means no sound out of anything at all, whereas if i go via my realtek ports (the onboard audio), i can plug in and out in various combinations all day and nothing will cut out (as it should be). beginning to suspect the sound card itself is at fault.

am going to have the pc collected and looked at by PCS both to ensure that the front panel is 100% and that the sound card isn't causing problems, bit of a pain but at least i'll know that everything will be looked at and done properly, and if the sound card is at fault they'll be able to fix/replace bits as necessary.

 

[samx300]

Oh, sorry for your trouble mate.

But I must say, you're brave sending back your PC for the front panel sound issue I've had all sorts of BSODs, Vertex 3 RMA etc and I still don't want to send it back (well, I would if it becomes really necessary). Plus, I've discarded the packing the PC came in.. it was huuuge, and I am not at the liberty to sacrifice any more space in my apartment.

Good luck with your issues. I am sure once you send it back, PCS would be able to sort things for you.

 

[vanthus]

As for tech support not knowing of any issue affecting soundblaster cards and front panel audio jacks,that is what I was told by PCS,one of the administrators on the forums this is the thread http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?1850-soundcard-problem.

 

[Tracker]

Yeah, some cards (mostly older ones) aren't compatible with front panel, depending on the front panels connection type, the haf x supports both and in itself it works fine, i think the sound card is at fault (as that was playing up long before i got the front panel working).

Sam, I've spent shy of £3k on the setup, i expect it to work exactly as i want it to outside of technical limitations. If anything isn't working then i expect PCS to have the expertise to put it right (as they've the tools and knowledge that i lack, hence why i've bought the pc built from them rather than building myself x3), i've had to pay out for a second set of packaging, but i'd rather that and the pc be ok during shipping to/from.

tried playing wow a few moments ago, and after about 15 minutes of configging my toolbars in game, black screen, BSoD, now pc won't go past splash screen stating a required startup selection isnt present.. not happy. Wondering if the vertex 3 is playing up as thats what the os is running off of.