Topic: No Front Audio

[FEVER]

 Updated codecs through Realtek. Reconnected pin header/plug. Verified old motherboard pin configuration Azalia, verified New motherboard pin config, Azalia, but pin #9 & #10 on front audio plug were backwards going from ASUS to MSI (Line Out Left ~vs~ Line Out Jack-Detection) Switched wires within plug, no difference. Ive tried connecting my speakers to this jack also, with never any luck.......front jack has NEVER auto-detected anything hooked into it so far. Any ideas where to go from here? 

[Zeus]

Is that with the MSI P35 board?  On a whim, try the other Intel HD connector.  You won't kill anything, and I believe you'll have success.

[FEVER]

 Yes its the MSI P35 Platinum Combo. RE: The "other" High Def connector........I wasnt supplied with any special cables with this MB other than a firewire PCI-slot adapter/plug, power pin connector/adapters & ribbon cables. As far as plugs, the only other audio-out im aware of is the S/PDIF-out 3pin for fiber-optic(also a PCI-slot adapter/plug), and also a rear fiber-optic on the rear-panel.
 Only cables to speak of are the single-pin type, which ARE running with the same wire as the front audio header plug....
 Not sure what you mean by intel connector.

[Zeus]

Sorry.  Some cases have two connectors supplied with the front audio port.  My bad.  Have you tried hooking up the other way?

[FEVER]

Yeah, I tried the 3 single pins ONLY (ground, left out, right out) last night. No luck, so I contacted MSI.

 End User (myself) 04/10/2008 I have no front audio, nor is anything connected to the front jack being auto-detected. Ive tried everything I can think of. Updated latest codecs through Realtek. Reconnected pin header/plug. Verified old motherboard pin configuration Azalia, verified New motherboard pin config, Azalia, but pin #9 & #10 on front audio plug were backwards going from old ASUS motherboard to new MSI P35 (Line Out Left ~vs~ Line Out Jack-Detection) Switched wires within plug to correct, no difference. Even tried ONLY 3 single-type pin plugs directly to pin #2 ground, pin #5 Line-Out Right, and pin #9 Line-Out Left. Nothing works.   
 
   
 MSI Tech. 04/10/2008 Be sure to download and try with the updated Realtek v1.90 driver first: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false ** Verify the wiring connection again to the audio header on the mb. If all steps have been tried and problem still persists then please kindly refer to our website for manufacturer warranty RMA info/request: http://www.msicomputer.com/support/CustomerS.asp

 Sounds like Ive done all I can. The header is shot er something. Sucks, but at least its not a critical header! A nice sound-card can cure my problems that includes a seperate front audio header and possibly a seperate  headphone jack as well. Easier than RMA, just costly.

[VE6JHC]

I had onboard sound......

[FEVER]

 Creative Sound Blaster X-FI XtremeGamer......solved all the audio problems! 
 Plus a free, well needed copy of PowerDVD!

[techgeek]

Hey Fever, just a word to the wise.  Creative's customer support sucks and they have total disregard for their customers.  Just Google daniel_k and Creative and you'll find out the whole sordid affair.

Apparently (I don't use Vista yet) Creative was intentionally crippling older SoundBlaster hardware (SB Live, Audigy, and Audigy 2) so that the customer lost most of the functionality of their cards that they had under Windows XP.  Not only functionality, but poor quality sound and performance.  This daniel_k came along and discovered how Creative was locking out the features in their drivers and restored them.  While producing drivers that fixed many issues (not only the cards mentioned, but the X-Fi series as well), he asked for donations to fund him so he could buy additional Creative sound hardware to improve his support.  Phil O'Shaughnessy (Creative's VP of communications) sent an open letter deriding daniel_k on Creative's public forum and threatened him with legal action.  As you can imagine, the enthuisiast community exploded.  Here is a guy essentially giving Creative's users functional drivers, which Creative refused to do, and they threaten him openly.  During the time proceeding this Creative had been lying to their customers blaming Vista's changes in how Vista handles sound and saying that it was technically impossible to provide the funtionality that these older cards had in XP.  As I said before the X-Fi wasn't without problems as well, and these were fixed by daniel_k.  Coincidentally Creative is on the cusp of releasing their X-Fi 2 series cards which are fully Vista compliant.  Now had Creative been honest and said it was EOLing (End of Life) the SB Live, and Audigy series with Vista, it wouldn't have been so bad, but to blatantly lie to their customers and then threaten the guy who exposed the lie is beyond believable.  Creatives forum had some 150 pages on one topic within 2 days, most people posting had signed up that day to make 1 post.

As for me, I am swearing off Creative products.  NewEgg has pulled their stock and officially said they will not sell them until the community and Creative comes to some agreement.  If any of this means anything to you, I would return that card while you can and purchase from a decent company (ASUS perhaps).  Creative has created a real sh!tstorm for themselves and I don't think they will easily steer clear of it.  I imagine Phil "the @sshat" O'Shaughnessy will be working at Burger King in the near future.

Just thought I would let you know, and useful information to other members.

P.S.  I own a Audigy 2.

[Fujitsu]

The biggest hardware problems I've ever had in the past have usually been a result of a Creative product, however I still have a SoundBlaster X-Fi Platinum installed in my main system

There are a few alternatives out there (AuzenTech, Asus, Razer), but there just doesn't seem to be that one sound card that everyone can agree on as the successor to the soundblaster, which really amazes me since most hardware components have at least a couple companies battling (ATI vs Nvidia, etc.) I just find it really funny that no company has ever been able to step up and give Creative a real run for their money.

[FEVER]

 Funny how some things just fly right by you. I looked around at quite a few cards looking for 2 things, functionality for exactly what I needed/wanted, and brand name. I would have loved to gone with ASUS on a soundcard.......AND another one of their motherboards, but their 5h!t is too expensive nowadays. Competition keeps prices competitive, but lack thereof and its a runaway train. Throw in efficiency, customer service & known issues and you have yourself a migraine.
 I'm as familiar with the name SoundBlaster as much as the next guy, but yeah......I missed the part about it being a Creative product. Dont ask......it flew over my head somewhere between researching, pricing, grabbing off the shelf, reading the box before paying for it..........all the way until I got home & started to open it.....or maybe when I was installing the drivers.....I dont remember. I DO remember the piece of crap Creative keyboard that came with my Velocity Micro, and thats about my entire experience with them. I would love to take it back now that you bring this to my attention, plus im not a big-fan (yet) of their products........but at the same time, I wasnt able to find another product that offered special effects for headphones, THX, switchable modes, 2.1 jack for speakers and a header for my front I/O jacks. All for $100. Plus a very much needed PowerDVD for my new rig...free. Avaliable at my local big brick store 2 miles from my home, for only $20 more than the net had to offer.
 Instant gratification sells. Thats why we have so many fat-girls in the US 
 I never ever never considered wasting my money on a soundcard, when a pc came with audio stock.
 I dont have surround on my pc, and only as of last year got some really nice Klipsch 2.1 speakers. I didnt buy into the "sounds oh so much better" or the claims to "faster" whatever ingame.
 Unfortunately, I was just starting to like this card.
 It gave me my front audio back, 3D simulated surround in my headphones, sooo many sound effects to play with, and I finally dont have to plug, unplug, replug, my wireless headphones/pc/cable TV either.
 I believe Ive got 30 days, no questions asked return. If I can find a card with these features, for a similar price, I'll consider giving creative back their card.
 Thanks for the info. I'd love to jump onboard "sticking to" todays corporations, but this card was a simple answer to not having to tear apart my first "complete" build, just to RMA what seems to be a perfectly fine functioning MB.......other than an issue with front audio (that possibly may even have been a result of my own doing)
 

[Zeus]

I understand that Creative has some major issues that shouldn't be ignored and that they are crippling their hardware.  That being said, nVidia sells graphics cards with pipelines and shader units disabled and calls them a "GTS" instead of a "GTX" does that mean that we shouldn't buy anything from nVidia?

I'm not defending Creative here - they have screwed up in the past.  That being said, I've never used a better card than an X-Fi.  The sound is better, cleaner, purer than other cards I've used - and it destroys on-board sound.  Over the years, I've bought the SB-Live, Audigy, Audigy 2, Audigy 2ZS and now have an X-Fi Gamer and X-Fi Platinum.  I've enjoyed every one and honestly never had any issues with any of them.

The reason I bought so many is that I can pretty much get them wholesale so when a newer version comes out I can sell off my "old" one and upgrade for cheap/free.

My word to FEVER: Let your own experiences guide you.  If the card works great - love it, cuddle it and be happy.  If it sucks for you and causes nothing but issues - be a Creative hater.  Until then - decide for yourself.

[techgeek]

That being said, nVidia sells graphics cards with pipelines and shader units disabled and calls them a "GTS" instead of a "GTX" does that mean that we shouldn't buy anything from nVidia?

You can't equate the two.  nVidia for the most part locks pipelines because they don't work, or don't work well at a particular models default clock speeds.  This allows them to sell a GPU that would otherwise be scrapped.  Economical and environmentally sound.  Sometimes they lock working pipelines to have more mid range GPUs because this is where the volume sales are.  I would consider this a boon to the hardware enthusiast who doesn't mind going in and unlocking these locked pipelines and gets a high end card while paying a mid card price.  Both reasons can be appreciated as well as applauded.

As for Creative's reasons, they are only economical.  Not only that, but they are environmentally irresponsible (your sound card hits the landfill before it's time).  Here you have a product that you paid good money for and it has all the features you want, and then an OS change comes along and the manufacturer only gives it minimal support.  You lose all the neat features you liked, and the basic functionality is poor quality.  Then they lie to you when you complain, blaming it on the new OS and hardware limitations, neither of which are true.  Their true motive is to force all the sheep who have to have the new shiny OS to upgrade their otherwise perfectly good sound cards.  This is an artificial limitation, it has nothing to do with the hardware.  Why they do this isn't much of a mystery.  I personally think this is despicable.  I wouldn't have liked it much, but at least I would have more respect for Creative if they had told the truth.  Like saying "we are not going to support our last generation cards on the new OS because it doesn't make economic sense".  Now you have to hand it to nVidia, their FX5000 series cards are supported with drivers for Vista.  It maybe an old driver, but I bet all the hardware features work.  ATI supports Vista back to their 9000 series cards.  The X-Fi was marketed as a Vista Ready product and still doesn't offer the quality or feature set it does in XP.  This is their present product!  Lo and behold they are readying X-Fi 2 which is fully Vista compatible (according to them), is this a coincidence, I think not.  They are hoping the sheep will dump their X-Fi cards which don't live up to their expectations in Vista to have the new shiny that does.  This maybe a problem now though, the sheep seen the wolfs teeth.

I have had SB cards going back to the SB16.  I have a SBLive card in my boys computer and an Audigy 2 in mine.  I have always been happy with them, even though some system stability problems were attributed to my Audigy 2 initially.  It comes down to the principle of it.  I feel that as a customer, I should stand up for myself and others by buying responsibly.  I wouldn't buy clothing made by a manufacturer that uses child labor, and I won't buy hardware from a company who thinks so little of their customers.  I am doing this as much for you other Creative owners as I am myself.  If anything this should hurt loyal long time Creative users more.  We are the ones who've supported them all this time, only for them to turn their back on us.  My hope is that Creative goes under and a company like ASUS comes in and buys up the IP and uses it in products that they will support properly.  Having good hardware isn't enough nowadays, you have to have customer support.  It doesn't do anyone any good if a company has an excellent product, but then it isn't properly supported.  This couldn't be more true than it is for computer hardware.  Without software support all that fancy hardware is just a pile of toxic chemicals.

[FEVER]

My word to FEVER: Let your own experiences guide you.  If the card works great - love it, cuddle it and be happy.  If it sucks for you and causes nothing but issues - be a Creative hater.  Until then - decide for yourself.

 Thats most likely going to be the approach im taking. Like I said, I ONLY ONLY ONLY purchased this card to resolve a motherboard issue. Other than that, I would much rather have dumped the much needed $100 into a 3870x2 I cant yet afford. I purchased an $1800 Velocity Micro pc, then dumped another grand or two customizing...........and 1 year later, Im running a new system, all updated & modern P35 with the old nvidia 7950GT that came in this VM stock. I way overpaid to have a "Brand" pc.....ive only owned emachines in the past & finally wanted something that gained respect, and had abilities for upgrades & overclocking. I was still to scared of a new build, and it came at an expensive cost. Now, I finally somewhat grasped how to overclock, im not scared in BIOS anymore, and I finally built a pc in a way ive never done before. Ive done PSU swaps, Case swaps, etc etc. But never a completely new MB transfer untill now.
 I have to be given SOME slack just for being a noob at this. And im not a "Creative Supporter", nor have I ever been. I didnt help them to get where they are today, and had I known before purchasing, I may have made a different decision. But Im with Ben on this one. It works, im happy, I dont see any "lack" of features, and if there ARE a lack of, I dont miss it. What am I losing, DTS? Everything seems to function fine in Vista, and I guess if I wanted to take precautions, I could save my current drivers to disk.....this should solve "minimal support" issues, correct? Or am I already past this point running ok in Vista?

[Nicao]

Don't waste your time hating people/companies for other people.  I'm using an Audigy 2 under Vista x64 and while the drivers may not be as extensive as XP I havn't ever run into something that I was missing.  In my opinion the drivers were getting too bloated anyways.  They work, it's stable, good enough for me.