Windows 7 - HD Audio Driver on regular jack?

The front headphone jack on my case is capable of being either HD Audio, or AC97. As I have just cheapy headphones, I have doubly checked that AC97 is plugged into my Asus mobo. It was working fine a while ago. Now, I can't get any sound. I've tried reinstalling the Realtek driver on the Asus driver disc, to no avail. I have noticed that the driver says "Realtek High Definition Audio Driver." Does this matter? *Should* it be uninstalled? Anyhow, why won't my headphone jack produce any sound now?

Well, sorry about that but maybe somebody else might come across this issue. ^__^>
While I waited for a reply I figured I'd tinker around. I was pretty sure the event that separated it working from not working, was when I got a new set of speakers, which were plugged into the "front speakers" jack in back. They've been working fine. I unplugged them entirely- nothing. Changed which jack they were plugged into- nothing. However, the change prompted a notification bubble which led me to the "Realtek HD Audio Manager." Nothing seemed helpful, til I stumbled upon a folder icon on the right sidebar, leading to "Connector Settings." "Disable front panel jack detection" was unchecked. For the sake of crazy, I checked it & clicked okay. Bam! Music.

Apparently, that doesn't mean to just disable the front panel, but to actually make this driver ignore it so that it IS enabled... Whatever. Works as it should now, speakers & headphones in harmony.