Windows 7: No sound from front panel jacks

New rig with GA-h55m-usb3 mobo with Win 7/32 pro SP1 - back panel sound fine. but trying original front panel jacks (AC97), and Silverstone fp94s jacks (HD or AC97) nothing. HD recognition should be automatic! Audio is integrated on board Realtek, driver r2.49-6121.

I have upgraded the bios and the drivers. I have tried changing the switch to turn off automatic recognition for AC97. I can see that the system playing, I have ensured the voilume is up. Tried different speakers.

Having read other forums, come to the conclusion that this is a win 7 issue, and/or a mobo issue (however I gather this happens on other mobos).

Any suggestions?

Do you have the correct cable connection between the motherboard and the case front panel jacks? When I assembled my home built PC, I had a problem with the front panel assembly in the case and had to get a replacement front panel assembly (and cables) from the case manufacturer to fix it.

As this is a new system, it could be anything - from the connection on the motherboard to the cable and /or front panel, to a hardware problem with the integrated audio.

Go back and verify that you have the HD Audio connection connected to the motherboard pins and that it is connected correctly. You may have to take an ohmmeter and try to trace out the connections to the front panel headphone and mic jacks to ensure continuity in the cabling. But the wiring is the first thing to check.

I will certainly double check it. However I did follow the Gigabyte pinout instructions which for AC97 says r-out on pin 5, and l-out on pin 9 - -excluding the mic for a moment - nothing else.

On the Silverstone card reader the cabling for both AC97 and HD are as two all-in-one plugs, ie no simple options to change - in this case the r-ret, l-ret and gnd are also connected.

Having tried both originally, plus the number (or volume) of posts on front plug issues I think there must be a systems/driver issue here.

Thank you its always appreciated when folks provide suggestions.

I'm using the "HD" connection on my home built system with an Intel motherboard. With all the "sensing switching" that is done by the new generation sound chips, that is the sound interface you should be using.

I used the HD connection to the case's front panel connection when I was using the IDT Integrated audio and now with a separate sound card (HT Omega Striker 7.1).

More ny luck than judgment I have resolved the issue, at least now we get sound from the front panel jack.

Here was my fix, Control panel/sounds/ click on speakers, and make them a default. hey presto sound at both front and rear.

I put this down to a Realtek problem, as surely this should be the deafult anyway? Frustrating as had been working on this for 2 days.

Both HD & AC97 are now working - HD is now left as the fitted option.

Yes your "speakers" should be set as the default playback device. I missed that as I assumed it was already set, but obviously not.

Automatic setting is not always done in new systems, and if there is an HDMI port with audio usually the initial "default" will be the HDMI and not the "speakers".

Many thanks, I didn't know that, but then this is the first hdmi board I've installed. Seems strange "default" setup by Gigabyte, nothing in the mobo manual about that.

Once bitten, will know for next time.