front panel audio jack doesnt work after sleep mode until restart

I have realtek ALC898, part of gigabyte Z77 UD5h mobo, windows 7 ultimate 64bit. Rear jack speakers always work, sound always works. But after sleep, the front panel audio jack does not work, ie headphones silent.

Workaround 1) go to device manager, disable realtek high definition audio, then enable it, then front panel audio jack works properly.
workaround 2) restart the computer and it works again.

I tried disabling sleep and using hibernate, since I read somewhere that hibernate is like a restart, but apparently it is not. Using hibernate, once it resumes from hibernate, front jack still doesnt work just like using sleep mode.

It sounds like resuming from sleep mode or hibernate mode, that windows 7 is failing to reinitialize some of the realtek audio drivers, at least those associated with front panel audio jack for headphones. So have to restart or disable/enable realtek high def audio in device manager. I have most recent realtek drivers, tried both from realtek, and most recent from Gigabyte, both have same issue. My windows 7 is fully up to date.

Any other suggestions for a permanent fix? Am I right in this is just failure of 7 to reinitialize some drivers?

Thanks for confirming what I thought. And the splitter is good idea, since rear mobo audio out works with sleep mode. Will probably go that route, thanks!