help with F-Audio sound.

mobo: giga-byte
model: GA-81PE1000
OS: Win XP Pro



Ok I got a new mambo tower this weekend and managed to get everything
connected. The only problem now is the F-audio sound. I have a sound
blaster live card and the onboard audio disabled. the problem is, when I
connect the headphones to the tower in front, I can't get any sound to come
out of them. I do believe I have the tower audio connectors connected
correctly. I have never used a tower with front audio sound before so I don't
know if I am doing something wrong. I have not installed the onboard
drivers since i use the sound blaster card. could that be an issue?


Here is the link to a screen shot of the GA-81PE1000 manual of the F-audio
connectors
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2273/audio2xn8.jpg
Thanks in advanced!

kreepz wrote:
> mobo: giga-byte
> model: GA-81PE1000
> OS: Win XP Pro
>
>
>
> Ok I got a new mambo tower this weekend and managed to get everything
> connected. The only problem now is the F-audio sound. I have a sound
> blaster live card and the onboard audio disabled. the problem is, when I
> connect the headphones to the tower in front, I can't get any sound to come
> out of them. I do believe I have the tower audio connectors connected
> correctly. I have never used a tower with front audio sound before so I don't
> know if I am doing something wrong. I have not installed the onboard
> drivers since i use the sound blaster card. could that be an issue?
>
>
> Here is the link to a screen shot of the GA-81PE1000 manual of the F-audio
> connectors
> http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2273/audio2xn8.jpg
> Thanks in advanced!
>

If the onboard audio is disabled, there is no signal on F-audio!
F-audio comes from the onboard audio chip.

If you are using a Sound Blaster, and have wiring in the tower for
headphones and microphone, then you'd need to wire the tower to
the Sound Blaster card. I doubt the Sound Blaster has good
documentation, but you'd be looking for a header on the surface of
the Sound Blaster.

It is going to be tougher than you think. Now you need to educate
yourself about what is possible with Sound Blasters. There are
so many different models, you'll at least need to start Googling
using the model number, to get the scoop. Some people have figured
a few things out, about undocumented headers on some of those
cards, and that is the kind of info you'd be looking for.

For me it was an easy tradeoff. I disabled my onboard, and used
a separate sound card (not a Sound Blaster) and losing the front
headphone jack wasn't a big deal.

If you're desperate, you could try something like this. The blob
sits near the front of your computer, and the long cord plugs into
the green speaker jack on the SoundBlaster. I don't know if Radio
Shack still sells these or not.

http://support.radioshack.com/support_accessories/doc70/70815.pdf

You could also use a setup like something from Frontx.com . They
make a 5 1/4" drive bay product, for front audio or other connectors.

http://www.frontx.com/index3.gif

To do front headphones, you get one of these.

http://www.frontx.com/cpx090.html

The left plug (green), goes to the Sound Blaster green jack.
The middle "speaker socket", stays towards the back of the
computer, and that is where your speaker system plugs in.
The rightmost jack, with the beige plastic surround, is
your front headphone jack. Plugging in headphones, should
disable the speakers (mute feature).

The microphone jack uses this assembly.

http://www.frontx.com/cpx093.html

You also have to buy the modular drive bay thing, and
use the included fillers for any unused panel areas on
the bay.

http://www.frontx.com/cpx088.html

To plug the cables into the Sound Blaster, the cables
have to come through a hole in the computer case. By
removing a PCI slot cover, that will provide a place to
run the green plug and pink plug and wires. See (2) and
(3) here, for examples.

http://www.frontx.com/indexp2.gif

Paul