Headphones not working unless...

py2006 · 15-07-2010 12:17pm #1

....connected directly into sound card!

Hi all,

On the top of my case I have a socket for headphones yet when I connect the headphones it doesn't work! It will work when connected to sound card!

This is a pain in the <body part> as I have to go down on the floor and disconnect my speakers and plug in headphones each time!

Any ideas?

ricman · 15-07-2010 12:35pm

see control panel, audio, have you headphone audio,on, you are using line out.YOU can buy a 3.5mm male to 3.5mm female 4ft cable around 5euro in maplins, and plug it in, plug headphones into female end,if you cant find the problem in the pc.
maybe in the pc,the headphone socket is not connected to the motherboard, or theres an audio out ,settings problem.

py2006 · 15-07-2010 12:45pm

Yea I went into control panel and it is saying its not plugged in. There must be a cable that I didn't notice inside that connects to the motherboard.

monkeypants · 15-07-2010 3:01pm

Haven't built a PC in a number of years, but the last casing I used had a collection of sockets (audio out, USB, etc) under a panel on the top. According to the motherboard manual, connecting them up would have stopped the ports on the back from working, which I didn't want.

Take a look at the manual and see what it says.

Webmonkey · 15-07-2010 3:02pm

Probably just connection from jack to motherboard pins.

CreepingDeath · 15-07-2010 4:18pm

Did you install your own sound card in the computer ?
Most motherboards have built-in sound cards.
If you added your own sound card, it probably disabled the motherboard sound card which was connected to the front case sockets.

If you don't have your own add-on sound card, then I'd open up the PC, then follow the cable from the front case earphone sockets, and see if they connect anywhere. They should connect to your motherboard.

corkcomp · 15-07-2010 4:31pm

make sure onboard sound enabled in the bios (if it is onboard) but tbh it sounds like a simple cabling issue.. the front connectors are an expansion card and need to be wired to mb or sound card

py2006 · 15-07-2010 7:03pm

Thanks for the replies! Yea its a sound card I installed myself.

If I was to enable onboard sound via the bios, would that somehow compromise the sound from my sound card?

py2006 · 15-07-2010 7:05pm

corkcomp wrote: »

make sure onboard sound enabled in the bios (if it is onboard) but tbh it sounds like a simple cabling issue.. the front connectors are an expansion card and need to be wired to mb or sound card

You might be right here! I do remember connecting cables for the usb (beside the headphone socket) So maybe there was an extra cable I missed for the headphone and mic.

CreepingDeath · 15-07-2010 7:52pm

py2006 wrote: »

Yea its a sound card I installed myself.

That's it then.
The front case earphone sockets are still connected to the motherboard for the on-board sound card. They're not connected to your sound card.

So you just need to plug it into your sound card instead.
Drag out your sound card manual to see where to connect it to your sound card.

py2006 wrote: »

If I was to enable onboard sound via the bios, would that somehow compromise the sound from my sound card?

Yes.
You'd have two sound cards operating in your system, not sure which one would take precedence.

Adam · 15-07-2010 7:52pm

also yes, having onboard and pci sound enabled might cause some unusual behavior, check to see if your sound card has pins on it that you can connect the front inputs to instead of connecting them to the motherboard

edit: just beaten to it!

corkcomp · 15-07-2010 7:53pm

py2006 wrote: »

You might be right here! I do remember connecting cables for the usb (beside the headphone socket) So maybe there was an extra cable I missed for the headphone and mic.

if its a sound card you installed vs onboard sound then dont enable the onboard one.. look for pins / connector on sound card and connect cable from front expansion port onto this

py2006 · 15-07-2010 10:39pm

CreepingDeath wrote: »

So you just need to plug it into your sound card instead.
Drag out your sound card manual to see where to connect it to your sound card.

Do you know what it looks like? Don't think its labeled "headphone"

marco_polo · 15-07-2010 11:17pm

No problem re-enabling the onboard, as the days of different audio devices interfering with each other are by and large long gone certainly in Vista and Windows 7, as you can easily switch between audio devices in the windows volume mixer (even have different applications using diffferent sound devices). I had three enabled at one stage including a creative card, realtek onboard and the ATI HDMI sound on the graphics card, you simply make one the default audio device.

However it was a pain to having to select which audio device an application should be using though, so if possible I would just connect the front panel to your curent sound card and keep the setup as simple as possible.

corkcomp · 15-07-2010 11:22pm

py2006 wrote: »

Do you know what it looks like? Don't think its labeled "headphone"

follow the cable (if there is one) coming out of you front expansion panel (headphone jacks) and plug it into the sound card.. its prerry straight forward tbh.. if you dont have a manual for the card or the pins arent labelled it might make it more difficult..

marco_polo · 15-07-2010 11:32pm

py2006 wrote: »

Do you know what it looks like? Don't think its labeled "headphone"

Should be something like this, will either be HD audio or AC 97 depending on the soundcard (both connection types look very similar just the pin arrangements are slightly different)

You want to connect this coming from the front of the case:

To this on the souncard.

If the sound card uses AC 97 then you need to use the cable labled AC 97 otherwise use the HD one (most cases support both)

py2006 · 16-07-2010 5:51pm

Thanks for the replies! Very helpful folk in here! :-)

Hmm, found cable but doesn't seem to be place on card for it! ;-(. (extreme gamer)

ricman · 16-07-2010 7:50pm

WHATS the soundcard model,eg creative 340kl.

py2006 · 16-07-2010 7:51pm

ricman wrote: »

WHATS the soundcard model,eg creative 340kl

Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

ricman · 16-07-2010 8:06pm

would it not be easier to buy a 3.5mm male to 3.5mm female, cable 4ft and leave it plugged into the creative extreme, headphone socket, leave it on top of the pc,or tape to the side, plug in a headphones if you wanna use them.
i think there should be an interface on the pc motherboard 4 the headphone cable, , match pin 1 to pin1 on the motherboard,look for writing audio , pin1 -4,if you plug it in wrong you could damage the mobo/sound card .Have you a motherboard manual.
PIN 1 IS USUALLY a certain color,look at the other mobo,connectors.be really careful, otherwise you could damage the motherboard ,if you plug pin 1 in to p4 on the mobo.

mordeith · 16-07-2010 10:08pm

The socket won't be on the soundcard. It'll be on the motherboard.

py2006 · 16-07-2010 10:51pm

mordeith wrote: »

The socket won't be on the soundcard. It'll be on the motherboard.

Not sure I saw it there either! Will take a better look in morning! Bulb just gone! Hah

mordeith · 17-07-2010 9:04am

py2006 wrote: »

Not sure I saw it there either! Will take a better look in morning! Bulb just gone! Hah

Can you let us know the make and model of your mobo as well. Should be an online manual that illustrates the various connections

py2006 · 17-07-2010 9:36am

mordeith wrote: »

Can you let us know the make and model of your mobo as well. Should be an online manual that illustrates the various connections

Its an Asus P5Q

Looks like the only place it would fit is that green one on the top left but it doesn't say audio or anything beside it!

EDIT: That must be it!!

py2006 · 19-07-2010 3:36pm

Ok, I plugged the HD Audio cable into the motherboard and now my headphones are working via the panel on the front of the case!

However, does this not mean that it is using onboard audio as opposed to my sound card! Which would be inferior? Or am I just imagining this?

marco_polo · 19-07-2010 3:48pm

py2006 wrote: »

Ok, I plugged the HD Audio cable into the motherboard and now my headphones are working via the panel on the front of the case!

However, does this not mean that it is using onboard audio as opposed to my sound card! Which would be inferior? Or am I just imagining this?

Yep you would be using the onboard audio now, was there no similar HD connector on the soundcard itself?

Either way onboard audio chipsets tends to be quite a decent standard nowadays certainly at the level of a budget soundcard, so unless the motherboard is very old or the soundcard very expensive (100 euro +) then the quality gap should be negligible.

EDIT: Pretty sure I have that exact card, so their should be a HD audio connector on the soundcard as well. See the black connector and pins at the rear of the card in the center: http://www.gamegear.be/images/Creative%20Sound%20Blaster%20X-Fi%20Xtreme%20Gamer.jpg

ricman · 19-07-2010 3:48pm

ITS using the onboard sound card.I,D say you are unlikely to notice the difference,unless you are trying to use surround sound headphones ,which would not work on 1 3.5mm socket anyway.
Plug headphones into the extreme sound card thru the headphone socket,and see if theres a difference.
I mostly play fps,shooters so i,d be happy with a 20euro soundcard or onboard sound anyway.
AS i posted you can buy an extension 3.5mm male,to 3.5mm female cable for 6 euros, and just leave it plugged in to the extreme headphone socket if you want .ITS only activated when you plug heaphones into it.

py2006 · 19-07-2010 7:59pm

marco_polo wrote: »

Yep you would be using the onboard audio now, was there no similar HD connector on the soundcard itself?

Either way onboard audio chipsets tends to be quite a decent standard nowadays certainly at the level of a budget soundcard, so unless the motherboard is very old or the soundcard very expensive (100 euro +) then the quality gap should be negligible.

EDIT: Pretty sure I have that exact card, so their should be a HD audio connector on the soundcard as well. See the black connector and pins at the rear of the card in the center: http://www.gamegear.be/images/Creative%20Sound%20Blaster%20X-Fi%20Xtreme%20Gamer.jpg

Mine is a bit different from that one!

It doesn't appear to fit anywhere here!

marco_polo · 20-07-2010 12:54am

Sorry about the confusion exact card you have is the X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Pro, apparently somebody in Creative thought it would be of great idea to not have a front audio feature on the Fatality series of cards (The fatality used to come with an optional proprietory front IO panel as I recall, the card design was no doubt intended to flog more of these). The low profile one that I have in the plain old X-Fi XtremeGamer.

Looks like you are stuck with the onboard onboard for the front, as I said before it is not really a huge disadvantage nowadays as some of the chipsets are actually quite good and driver conflict errors as a result of multiple audio devices seem to be consigned firmly to the past, so using the card for speakers and the onboard for front headphones should be no problem.

py2006 · 20-07-2010 9:38am

Ahhhh thanks for that info!! I thought I was going mad!! I suppose it is no biggy!! But I did notice the sounds quality difference when I tested it yesterday after connecting it to the motherboard!!

I guess I could get an extension so I don't have to be getting down on the floor and crawling behind the case to unplug the speakers!

Thanks for all your help everybody!! :pac:

ricman · 20-07-2010 9:57am

here you go,http://info.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?C=SO&U=strat18&tabs=n&ModuleNo=11425&ma=3.5mm%20Stereo%20Lead,get the 3metre ,that should do it.

Headphones not working unless...

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