Anything special needed to get the P35-DS3R front audio working?

Hello,

I recently installed a Q6600 on a new P35-DS3R into an Antec Sonata II
case. The speaker/mic jacks on the back(mobo) work fine. But the two
front audio jacks don't work, which are needed for convenient
headphone/mic jack access. I had an ASUS board in the case, the front
jacks worked fine.

Is there any special setting in the HD audio setup to enable the front
jacks? I think detection should be automatic, I should not need to
change a setting.

Is there any way I can test if the MoBo's pins are working?

Thanks,
Speedy

Speedy Nospam wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I recently installed a Q6600 on a new P35-DS3R into an Antec Sonata II
> case. The speaker/mic jacks on the back(mobo) work fine. But the two
> front audio jacks don't work, which are needed for convenient
> headphone/mic jack access. I had an ASUS board in the case, the front
> jacks worked fine.
>
> Is there any special setting in the HD audio setup to enable the front
> jacks? I think detection should be automatic, I should not need to
> change a setting.
>
> Is there any way I can test if the MoBo's pins are working?
>
> Thanks,
> Speedy

Sonata II has a seven wire audio cable. The cable is compatible with
AC'97. Connect only five of the wires. The RET-L and RET-R are
not connected, and can be left dangling. You do want to
connect MIC, MIC-BIAS, GND, FPOUT-R, FPOUT-L. The first two
are for the microphone on the front panel, while the last
two are for the headphone jack. The ground signal is common to
both jacks.

Now, get the PDF version of the manual for the motherboard.
In section 5.2.1, is a subsection "Configuring AC'97 Audio".
It mentions a Windows dialog with a tick box for "Disable
Front Panel Jack Detection". That disables the HDaudio
method of jack detection, and should cause the audio chip to
switch to impedance sensing. Impedance sensing is how AC'97
codecs would automatically detect the front panel headphone
and microphone. So when the "Disable Front Panel Jack Detection"
is ticked, your AC'97 front panel wiring should begin to work.

HTH,
Paul

On Wed, 28 May 2008 23:33:36 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:

>Speedy Nospam wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I recently installed a Q6600 on a new P35-DS3R into an Antec Sonata II
>> case. The speaker/mic jacks on the back(mobo) work fine. But the two
>> front audio jacks don't work, which are needed for convenient
>> headphone/mic jack access. I had an ASUS board in the case, the front
>> jacks worked fine.
>>
>> Is there any special setting in the HD audio setup to enable the front
>> jacks? I think detection should be automatic, I should not need to
>> change a setting.
>>
>> Is there any way I can test if the MoBo's pins are working?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Speedy
>
>Sonata II has a seven wire audio cable. The cable is compatible with
>AC'97. Connect only five of the wires. The RET-L and RET-R are
>not connected, and can be left dangling. You do want to
>connect MIC, MIC-BIAS, GND, FPOUT-R, FPOUT-L. The first two
>are for the microphone on the front panel, while the last
>two are for the headphone jack. The ground signal is common to
>both jacks.
>
>Now, get the PDF version of the manual for the motherboard.
>In section 5.2.1, is a subsection "Configuring AC'97 Audio".
>It mentions a Windows dialog with a tick box for "Disable
>Front Panel Jack Detection". That disables the HDaudio
>method of jack detection, and should cause the audio chip to
>switch to impedance sensing. Impedance sensing is how AC'97
>codecs would automatically detect the front panel headphone
>and microphone. So when the "Disable Front Panel Jack Detection"
>is ticked, your AC'97 front panel wiring should begin to work.
>
>HTH,
> Paul

This sounds complicated, thanks for the effort!

I found the trouble. The front panel audio cable in the Sonata II has
an AC'97 and an HD plug. I had the AC'97 end attached to the mobo,
even though I had HD enabled.

I put the HD plug on the mobo, all is good.

Thanks again
Speedy