Ok, beep codes should be heard from pc speaker should it be connected and polarity proper. I need to double-check that. But that has nothing to do with the audio issue at hand. Waiting on gigabyte to respond today but at this point unless you have anything else in your bag of tricks I am going to have to waste more cash and RMA this back to NewEgg (18 days leeway for this return....) for yet another replacement. I know third times supposed to be the charm, but this isn't helping get my system up and rolling along. I want all things working for one, second would be stabilize things a tad so performance doesn't seem a bit wonky (slow loads of webpage on initial IE loading, device manager not snappy when clicking on link, this all has to be related to voltages since we know memory is good and CPU stable after 6+ hrs of Prime95 64 bit sunday and system is NOT overclocked). I am running memory at XMP Profile1 only with ACHI settings for SATA, USB 3.0 Turbo enabled, nothing else off top of my head that could cause any strangeness, just basic stuff to enable features on the mobo. I did change the graphics thing to PCI-e but set it back to PCI but saw no difference on system boot/load/running.
One question. The Azalia in BIOS for onboard sound (I saw you post that in another thread just now). Is that *just* for the top/front audio connections and not related to the rear connections for surround sound/etc? I only use the rear speaker out and possibly Mic input on the rear connections. Azalia is enabled and top connections work with my current speaker cable (1/8" to male XLR) or logitech headset w/mic).