Front + rear panel sound in vista

I have an expensive motherboard (ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe) with 5.1 sound (Realtek AC'97) IO on the back panel and an internal 10 pin (with 2 pins missing) AC'97 header to which I should be able to attach the AC'97 lead from my case's front panel headphone + mic sockets.

However, when I plug in the internal header, I lose the front left and right speakers from my 5.1 back panel socket (without getting it out the front socket either). I assume this is something to do with the way vista has only one "speakers" thing in control panel's "sound" thing and how it detects if things are unplugged. The only way I have been able to get the back panel sound back has been to unplug the front panel from the internal IO header.

Does anyone know how to fix this so that I can use both the front panel (headphones) and back panel (speakers) without turning my computer off to attach a lead to the motherboard?

try disabling hd-audio in the BIOS

I have an nForce 4 chipset, it doesn't have HD audio, only AC'97. If i disable that, i get no sound out of either the internal I/O or the back panel I/O

oops me and my big mouth. You think the problem is in vista - does the audio work ok in xp or linux?

Normally, when you plug the front connector in it mutes the rear speakers. I believe the motherboard detects and performs this switch without intervention by the OS but maybe this has changed.

As I understand it, your setup detects front connection without a plug inserted. it also does not make sound even with a plug in.

The problem may be with your computer case, in the type of audio connectors and the way they are connected. But ASUS motherboards seem to be the worst offenders. Try another fp connector from a nearby computer although it will be a stretch! I am working on a similar problem right now and hope to have a more informed solution shortly.

Many people do not use the fp audio because they have a headphone connector on their speakers which provides a louder output. The mic input is very poor quality if it works at all and is useless for voice recognition or recording.

I had the same issue with a MachSpeed board. The issue ended up being the connector in the case. Older cases have AC97 as opposed to HD connectors. I found a website that showed me how to disable the front input scan, and it resolved the issue immediately.

How to enable the front microphone and headphone jack inputs using the Windows Vista RealTek Audio driver

Here is the website, good luck. It is very step by step, but machspeed could not help me resolve it.

guys, my problem is similar. my front panel headphone jack was working on XP, but i cannot get it work on Vista x64. i installed the latest intel audio driver, but the problem continues. can it be because of vista? (i have Intel DG965WH motherboard and sigma tel audio on-board sound card)