Same output signal from different audio jacks?

[Griffin]

I just made the leap to Windows 7. I found a problem with sound. On XP, I could plug my headset into side or rear speaker jacks (3,5 mm) and get the same sound as comes from the main speakers. That was very handy, no need to move plugs to different jacks. It's not the case anymore. If I plug my headset into side speaker or rear speaker jacks, I can only get the sound that is meant for side or rear jacks. I'd like to combine it so that I get the same sound signal from every jack.

 

I've tried pretty much every setting and checked every place, reinstalled drivers etc.

 

I hope this picture will help:

 

Edited January 14, 2010 by Griffin

[EtherealN]

I have that exact driver suite, and I actually use the Back and Front panels. What it looks like there is that you are jacking the headset speakers into a different color coded jack, which I'd expect contributes. I use the Front Panel for the headset and the only thing that happens to me is that it won't play audio to both headset and speakers at the same time - which I'm fine with. :P

 

So I think you are basically plugging into a unit that is treated as a different sound device as opposed to just another speaker on the same device.

[Griffin]

Yeah I came to the same conclusion. This worked great on XP though. I wouldn't have any problems using the front jacks if they were working. They stopped working after a CPU cooler installation a few months back.

I just tried AC'97 but it wouldn't even install.

I'm using an onboard soundcard (ALC883), is there another option to the drivers?

[Griffin]

EtherealN, I think you can actually make the front and rear jacks work at the same time by clicking the Device Advanced Settings or the folder icon in the upper right corner of that screen. It will show you the options to do that.

 

Now I'm looking for the old driver called "Realtek ALC883 Audio Driver 5.10.0.5296". It allowed me to use all jacks for what I wanted, unlike the new one. I'd really appreciate if someone would know where to download the driver from. Googling came up with dozens of download sites but all of their download links either don't work or it takes like 3 hours to download such small driver pack at speeds between 2 - 7 kb/s.

I'm starting to have suspicions that it's more of the W7 feature than a driver problem. I hope not. Gotta see if I can fix the front jack.

 

The interface looks like this:

Edited January 14, 2010 by Griffin

[Made.In.China.00]

There's a pretty easy solution. Just double click the the that your headphone is plugged into and a small window will pop out, then choose front speaker so the driver will also use this jack as front channel.

See my attachment for an example. I double clicked the circled jack and a pop up window appear to let me choose what channel I want to this jack to output.

[Griffin]

Mine doesn't do that. Only the front jack has that feature and only when "disable front jack detection" option is on. I see you have a Gigabyte driver. Was it in your PC from the beginning or did you download it? If you did, could you pass me the link?

I don't get why my version is retarded. :/

[Boulund]

That sucks. I have the same audio circuit on my motherboard and it works perfectly just like it should. I've got stereo speakers connected in the back (green one), headphones + mic connected in the back (black and pink) and home theater connected to optical out.

I just click on the connector in the software (just like in the picture above) and select what output I want.

Tried looking for drivers from your motherboard manufacturer?

[Griffin]

Yeah I have. Found nothing. I have Asus P5K mobo and the sound card is ALC883. Even though I have Asus, it could be possible that Gigabyte drivers would work just as well (note Made In China's screenshot's lower left corner says Gigabyte instead of Realtek). My current drivers are from Realtek website and they don't seem to have those extra functions.

 

Checked inside my PC case this morning (2 pm by my standards) and tried to reconnect the front panel jacks into mobo again. No luck. I think I have pulled a wire some time ago and it got disconnected from the front jack. I didn't start doing that right now because I would have to remove alot of stuff from the case.

 

EDIT: Found some drivers, trying now.

Edited January 15, 2010 by Griffin

[Griffin]

Ok, problem solved! Not with drivers but I reconnected all the front panel connectors to motherboard again. Propably some wire was the wrong way after the last major hardware installation project.

Thank you all for help! :)

[Made.In.China.00]

Great to see you got it working!

It's a very neat little function, very useful in some cases.