GA-990XA-UD3 Front Audio - Headphone and Mic - not working

[douggoss]

Hello. I have a new, custom build and cannot get the front audio to work. The two USB ports along side the Mic and Headphone jacks work fine.
System Specs
The motherboard is a GA-990XA-UD3. Chipset AMD RD9XO Rev 02. Southbridge AMD
SB10/950 R40. Bios Award Software Ver F8
CPU: AMD Phenom II x6 1090T Black Edition Tuban HDT90ZFBGRBOX
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 4 x 4GB CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9
OS: Win7 (6.1) Home Premium SP 1 (Build 7601) 64 bit. Direct X 11.0
Don't think it makes a difference but I am running displayport out of the graphics card (Zotac 560 ZT-50701-10M) into the monitor (NEC PA241)

I downloaded updated drivers for the Reatec HD Audio Manager but that made no difference.
Audio out from the back panel works fine.

Any advice on what to try next would be greatly appreciated!

 

[fireberd]

Do you have the HD Audio connection to the motherboard from the front panel? (you can try the AC97 audio connection but the HD is the one for new motherboards). I'm not familiar with the display port, but I thought that was just video only, not like HDMI which is audio and video.

Do you get rear speaker audio output? If you don't have speakers, connect the headset to the rear GREEN speaker jack to check. If there is sound, its most likely either your connection from the front panel to the motherboard or the front panel. If there is no sound at the rear green speaker jack, check the Control Panel/Hardware and Sound and finally the Sound Panel. In the playback section, your "speakers" should be set as the default audio playback device.

But, it may be the front panel assembly is defective. I've had front panel problems with a couple of cases. I just built a new system, using a Gigabyte Z77X UD5H motherboard and a Corsair Carbide 500R case. There is a fan speed switch on the front panel of the case and it was not working, I had to contact Corsair and they sent a new front panel assembly which fixed the problem.

 

[douggoss]

Yes, the rear output is working. I've been listening to a JBL for a few weeks. Also plugged the phones into that jack
and, after the Realtec box popping up and me telling it I plugged in headphones, they worked too.

I think you are right about the connection. I would suspect that as the two USB ports to the left of the Mic and Headphones jacks are working fine. Looks like I'll have to operate!

RE: displayport - I think it can carry audio but I'm only using it to connect my monitor. You need it to carry a 10 bit signal to work in wide gamut in Photoshop, which I'm just starting to get into. Hence the new PC and monitor.

Thanks for the help!

 

[douggoss]

Ok, this has become an all afternoon on Sunday project. I found this advice on another board and took it:

CTL Panel > Sound > Recording Tab > Right Click and shows Hidden Devices > Enabled Stereo Mixed.
That worked to bring the headphones up but now I have music coming from the phones and the JBL.
Even tried setting it as a default device and that did nothing.
Kind of defeats the purpose of wanting to let the wife sleep in the bedroom close by.
Surprise - I still had audio but still in both the speaker and phones

So I went to the Realtec HD Audio Mixer and there are 5 tabs:
1 Digital Output Optical - unchecked
2 Digital Output - Unchecked
3 Speakers - checked
4 Stereo Mixer - checked
5 Microphone - Unchecked
Also in the Audio Manager there are two things at the top, a folder and Device Advanced Settings.
In the folder there are two options:
Disable Front Panel Jack Detection
Enable Auto Popup Dialog when a device has been plugged in
I tried every combination here but nothing worked - still sound coming from both places
In the Device Advanced Settings are two areas : Playback and Recording. Under Playback there are two options:
Mute rear device when a front headphone is plugged in
Make front & rear play simultaueously
Again, no combination worked here either - still sound from both places.

So, what have I learned
It is not a connections issue.
Realtec and Win7 do NOT work well together (just google this and see all the issues people have).
So, in one final act of desperation (or could be frugality as the thought did cross my mind to buy a sound card instead of using the onboard audio. But then I would immediately think about adding some B&W's. And that would somehow wake the wife up to come and put the foot down on that idea) I had a thought. I went to the Realtec HD Audio Manager again and to the speakers tab. There was a Mute button, which I then mashed. There is was! NO music from the JBL but the headphones still playing away. Oh happy day....

So at least I have a solution but not an optimal one. I should still be able to detect when phones are plugged in and mute the speaker coming from the rear. If anyone has any thoughts on this I'm all ears. Someone mentioned going into BIOS and changing the Front Panel Audio from HD to AC97. Not optimal as HD is the newest standard but might work.