I'm not sure if the above is needed but it can't hurt. My question is, how do i connect the motherboard to the tower to make the Front Panel I/O work.
I set it up to the best of my abilities, which is next to none, first computer I've ever built. The front has two USB ports as well as a Mic and Speaker Jack. The USB ports work fine, my mouse is connected to it and works like a charm. But the speaker and mic jacks do not. Not as intended anyway, when I connected the speakers to the jack, Vista told me USB Device not recognized. I have an AC97, HD Audio, USB and IEEE 1394 connecter coming from the front tower. Along with those are smaller ones, which connect my power and reset button.
One of the smaller connectors is labeled Speakers, and I connected this to the point the motherboard manual said to put it. But when I turned my computer back on, it started making very weird noises and wouldn't start up. I do not have a separate sound card, only using what the motherboard came with. Might that be the problem?
Re: Connecting Motherboard to Tower Front Panel I/O
"McVagh" <McVagh.33jgg5@no.email.invalid> wrote in message
news:McVagh.33jgg5@no.email.invalid...
>
> Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 AM2 Socket
> Tower: Cooler Master Centurion 534
>
> I'm not sure if the above is needed but it can't hurt. My question is,
> how do i connect the motherboard to the tower to make the Front Panel
> I/O work.
>
> I set it up to the best of my abilities, which is next to none, first
> computer I've ever built. The front has two USB ports as well as a Mic
> and Speaker Jack. The USB ports work fine, my mouse is connected to it
> and works like a charm. But the speaker and mic jacks do not. Not as
> intended anyway, when I connected the speakers to the jack, Vista told
> me USB Device not recognized. I have an AC97, HD Audio, USB and IEEE
> 1394 connecter coming from the front tower. Along with those are smaller
> ones, which connect my power and reset button.
>
> One of the smaller connectors is labeled Speakers, and I connected this
> to the point the motherboard manual said to put it. But when I turned my
> computer back on, it started making very weird noises and wouldn't start
> up. I do not have a separate sound card, only using what the motherboard
> came with. Might that be the problem?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
Hi,
I checked out your mb at Gigabyte and it does say there is a front I/O
connector for speakers so that's a positive note. However, my thought here
is that you may have misconnected the front panel audio wires to the block
of connectors that is meant for the internal speaker that sounds for the
POST when the computer starts, rather than the where they ought to be. It is
actually not necessary to have an internal speaker connected at all but it
does provide a diagnostic sound codes for affirmation of a good POST or when
there is a problem with the POST. Quite often, these days the speaker is
included as an accessory piece of either the case or mb, to be plugged in to
those connectors.
If you have connected the front audio wires to the block of inputs that
also has the power switch, power LED, reset, HDD LED, speaker, then you
should remove those front audio wires from there. The connectors for those
wires will be located somewhere else. Check your manual or download one from
Gigabyte.
Re: Connecting Motherboard to Tower Front Panel I/O
"McVagh" <McVagh.33jgg5@no.email.invalid> wrote in message
news:McVagh.33jgg5@no.email.invalid...
>
> Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 AM2 Socket
> Tower: Cooler Master Centurion 534
>
> I'm not sure if the above is needed but it can't hurt. My question is,
> how do i connect the motherboard to the tower to make the Front Panel
> I/O work.
>
> I set it up to the best of my abilities, which is next to none, first
> computer I've ever built. The front has two USB ports as well as a Mic
> and Speaker Jack. The USB ports work fine, my mouse is connected to it
> and works like a charm. But the speaker and mic jacks do not.
Your problem is proprietary connectors, on BOTH ends. That is, the pins on
the motherboard might not be compatible, and even if they are . . . the
cables on the case might not match them. Different manufacturers have
different ideas as to what the standard should be for the audio (and other)
connectors. As the motherboard (or soundcard) and case are almost never
made by the same company, getting front panel ports to work is hit and miss.
Some case manufacturers got smart to this problem and started breaking up
their cables so that INDIVIDUAL PINS could be connected wherever they need
to go. But if your sound cables on your case have more than one "pin" on
the end, then your only hope to get this working (without purchasing
optional hardware) is that the motherboard pins miraculously match
(electrically AND mechanically) whatever the case manufacturer included.
But you'd have to read the manual of your motherboard to figure that out.
I suspect you will find your motherboard is not compatible with your tower,
for the sound connections. Good news is, it's at least somewhat likely that
you could be able to find a cheap add-on sound card (with good sound
quality, even) to hook up those case cables to. But you'll need to do some
research. After verifying that your motherboard sound solution won't work,
make careful notes of the configuration of the case audio connectors, then
start downloading (manuals of sound cards) to read, until you find a sound
card that looks like it will work. -Dave
Re: Connecting Motherboard to Tower Front Panel I/O
"Jan Alter" <bearpuf@verizon.net> wrote in
news:ho2lj.4898$Wr4.1573@trnddc04:
> "McVagh" <McVagh.33jgg5@no.email.invalid> wrote in message
> news:McVagh.33jgg5@no.email.invalid...
<snip>
> It is actually not necessary to have an internal
> speaker connected at all but it does provide a diagnostic sound codes
> for affirmation of a good POST or when there is a problem with the
> POST.
I consider those beeps are VERY necessary and I would never operate a PC
without a speaker connected. In 11 of 07 after assembling a PC I failed
to connect the speaker because I was unsure of the MOBO pinout. Busy
with other aspects of the build I soon forgot this seemingly minor
issue. When I switched the power on nothing happened. Nothing on the
monitor, nothing at all. I pulled my hair for quite some time. Then
finally remembered to connect the speaker. I got a continuos series of
beeps. The first 512MB DIMM I installed was bad. I swapped it out with
the other DIMM I had planned to add and that fixed it. The morale of
this story is if you want to risk frustration in spades then leave the
PC speaker disconnected.
Connecting Motherboard to Tower Front Panel I/O 
Linear Mode
