AC'97 and HD audio front panel layouts

[Dwarf]

This shows the difference between the AC'97 and HD audio front panels.



The main reason for the difference is to do with speaker assignment. With the older AC'97 system, only a single pair of stereo speakers was supported. These could be switched on and off by a standard switching stereo jack socket. With the introduction of HD audio, and the ability to feed upto 8 speakers (7.1 audio), a different method of muting had to be utilized. This method uses circuits built in to the audio chip itself to control the rear socket muting. All the front panel has to do is to provide the correct signals to the audio circuitry to tell it whether it should mute the rear panel or not. To do this, specially designed jack sockets are used. Inserting a set of headphones into the front panel socket will cause all rear panel sockets that have been assigned as speaker sockets to be muted. Since the rear microphone socket can also be re-assigned as a speaker socket, a similar arrangement also exists for a front panel microphone as well. This disables the rear pink (MIC) socket, but not if it is assigned as a speaker socket.
Note that an AC'97 style front panel WILL NOT mute speakers connected to the rear panel of a HD equiped motherboard - only a HD front panel is configured to do so.
Even cases that come with front panels fitted with both HD and AC'97 audio plugs for the motherboard will not mute these speakers as the jack sockets are still the type used for AC'97, meaning that the required muting signals are never received by the audio chip on the motherboard.

 

[zaratustra06]

Great info, just what I searched for.

 

[Dwarf]

You're welcome. It's just a pity that HD front panels are somewhat elusive and very difficult to find.

 

[Aphelion]

Nice, thanks.... I've always wondered about the differences.

Ap

 

[stormy13]

Too take it a little further here is the difference in the pin outs for a the AC97 and HD Audio jumpers on a motherboard,

Also if you motherboard is like mine it will have a setting in the bios where you set it to either, depending on what is on the case.

 

[McSeven]

My Lian-Li A77 HD Audio plug is arranged like below.

1 black (gnd)
2 red (port1L)
3 black (presence)
4 brown (port1R)
5 orange (sense1 return)
6 yellow (port2R)
7 key
8 black (sense send)
9 green (sense2 return)
10 blue (port2L)

It looks like I have to swap the pins like this: (or I am nutz)
1 and 2
3 and 4
5 and 6
7 and 8
9 and 10

Note that the socket is on the Supreme FX mini card.

 

[hmxdenis]

Hello i need a little help with analog surround speaker jack detection on the intel DH61AG.how to connect jack detection to get options (analog surround out) on the realtek audio manager.

 

[hmxdenis]

 

[hmxdenis]

Nothing

 

[erpster4]

forget about it, hmxdenis.

change/replace the front panel jacks on your computer case; contact the maker of your PC case if they have a special audio wiring cable that can connect to the jack detection pins