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 RD9X0 Rev 02, Southbridge AMD SB910/950 Rev 40
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 Premiun SP1 (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!

[MarkJohnson]

You could have two issues.

1. If your monitor has speakers and they are working, then you'll need to set the default audio device to, I think, on-board sound.

2.  Make sure the front panel audio is enabled in the BIOS.  I see this in a lot of newer motherboards.

Luck
-=Mark=-

[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 Windows 7 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.

[MarkJohnson]

I don't know if I have ever had the speakers turn off when headphones  are plugged in.  I learned to buy desktop speakers with headphone jacks in them and they seem to always mute thee desktop speakers with headphones plugged in.

I assume your JBLs have this feature?

-=Mark=-

[douggoss]

I could plug into the JBL but there is a jack about 2 feet to my right on the top of the pc case (Antec).
Much easier to plug into that and have done so with all versions of Microsoft until 7. And when I did
it automatically shut down the other speakers that were playing.

The pc I had before this was an off the shelf HP from Office Depot so nothing real high end.

Somebody (MS, Realtec or both) took a step back here.

[MarkJohnson]

If I recall correctly, one of the audio header pins are for detecting if jack is plugged in.  You need to make sure that wire is connected and that  your plug has the detection switch.

Also, make sure you use the proper plug when connecting to the motherboard.  also match the setting in the BIOS for AC97 or HD.  Make sure the detection pin is correct for the mode you select.

Other than that I don't know.  It's been a very long time since I messed with the front panel audio.

luck
-=Mark=-

[TFisher]

Have you seen and/or tried this setting in "Device Advanced Settings" in the Realtek HD Audio manager?

[douggoss]

Yeah, I tried every possible combination of settings in the Realtec Audio Manager and nothing worked.

[Dark Mantis]

The setting will only work if you are using the AC97 connector I believe.