front panel jacks

When connecting the front panel (mic, headset) of a case to the mobo, is it possible to plug it in backwards and still have it work. I ask only because in my VIA HD screen it lists the back panel and front panel. In it the green jack is highlighted where my speakers are connected to. In the front panel I have my head phones w/mic plug in and in the VIA HD panel it's not showing up. So when I use my headphones it does not mute my speakers.....sound comes from both speakers and headset. If I plug headset in to jack on speakers it mutes speakers and sound comes only through headset but I can't use my mic. So I have to use front panel w/headset and turn off speakers....is there a way to work around this or a fix.

is it possible to plug it in backwards

Probably not, but seeing as the case is from Ultra who knows. Anyway check you bios settings under "Onboard Devices Configuration" and make sure the "Front panel Select" setting is set to AC'97. Reason being is that your case doesn't have/support HD Audio through the front panel, only an AC'97 connection. Couldn't find anything on Ultra's site support/manual-wise (they are willing to sell it to you though, at nearly twice the price as from Tiger Direct; go figure, one owns the other), but I did find this review on it,

Ultra Products E-Torque Midtower Case | Maximum PC

that at least says which it has. Probably find once you make that one change in the bios (HD Audio is the default), it should work as expected.

Thanks for the input stromy13. This is what I did.....unplugged everything and pulled computer out to work station. Opened up case and checked front panel connections to mobo. To my unbelieving eyes, I had the front panel header plug (AC'97 plugged in) and had HD set in bios as you said. I also had a HD plug, so I switched. Now in my HD VIA panel the mic port shows up when I plug in my mic. The only problems are that the panel doesn't show the headset as being plug in but does work just fine and when headset/mic is plug in and in use it still does not mute speakers. I'm one step closer....so next step is to do it all over again this time using AC'97 plug and change it in bios and see what happens. Will keep you posted as to my progress.