Realtek Audio Issues-Cant enable auto popup notifications/low sound

Hi,

I've just completed an upgrade on my rig and I replaced the Mobo, CPU, and RAM. The MOBO change required a fresh install of Windows 7 (64bit), which I did, and I proceeded to install the motherboard drivers from the CD provided. My last motherboard was a Gigabyte. The current motherboard is an ASRock H97 Performance Fatality motherboard.

With the new build I've had challenges in getting Realtek to work as expected. I use this rig to game, so sound is very important, and unfortunately the sound is the ONLY area I have challenges with at the moment. Here are the issues:

1) I noted that the level of sound is very low when plugged into the rear panel - much lower than it was previously
2) I noted that now when plugging my headphones in the rear panel, I do not get the auto popup that I used to get asking me to confirm that I just plugged in headphones - i get nothing. I suspect that this is WHY the sound is low - the system thinks im plugging in speakers, when I'm not doing that at all - I'm plugging in headphones
3) I cannot enable the auto popups in the Realtek Manager - I go in there, I click on the folder image, and I get something about enabling/disabling the front panel - nothing else. There is no option for me to enable auto-popups
4) I cannot click on the port image within Realtek to define how i want the port to be used - nothing happens.

What I have done:

1) I tested on the front panel and the sound is much louder. I still dont get any popups asking me to confirm what I've plugged in, but it seems the system is assuming I'm using headphones, as its MUCH louder (what I was used to level wise on the old mobo). There is a bit of static on the front panel (not much, and way better than last mobo - but it's not crystal clear) so I'd prefer to just get the rear panel working properly!
2) I updated the Realtek drivers with the latest drivers noted in the sticky in this forum, and it changed absolutely nothing.

So I'm totally stumped as to what to do here. Is there something wrong with this MOBO or is it just limited in some ridiculous way? I'd think not but this is driving me insane. Please help!

Thanks.

ok so the issue here is that the sound level has decreased substantially from the rear panel when using headphones. I dont have speakers, so I can't test that. On the old mobo, also realtek, when i inserted headphones in the green rear jack, I got the autopopup, and sound levels were fine. Now they are not and I cant enable the popup. So I want to work out how this can be fixed.

ok. When you double-click on the Realtek icon in your tray, is there a Folder icon on the right above the jack images, and in clicking on that folder image, is there an option to enable the auto-popups?

I had this on the previous system. I no longer have this. I feel like there must be something incredibly obvious that I am missing here! I tested this on another computer, and the option is there, and the popup does happen, and I can select headset on that computer.