Front panel audio input question

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by faque, Apr 20, 2005.

  1. faque

    faque Private E-2

    Hello -

    I am a bit of a newbie, and always appreciate the help from Major Geeks members. Thanks in advance!

    I recently upgraded my system, and the new computer has a front panel with mic and stereo inputs, and head phone outputs. However, i can't quite get the sound receorder or any other audion program to recognize these inputs. Below is (hopefully) some relative information about my system:

    P4 3.2 HT - 512 RAM
    Windows XP Home w/SP2
    Apparently there are two audio cards? In the device manager, I have both a C-Media Card (Rear Panel) and a Unimodem Half-Duplex card (the front?)

    In the input option for audio devices under control panel, i have tried both cards (actually, there are three options listed: C-Media, Modem #0, and modem #2).

    I also sent an e-mail to the manufacturer since this is rather hardware specific, but it never hurts to have some geeks to help. It's usually quicker!

    Thanks again.
     
  2. trespasser1234

    trespasser1234 Private E-2

    Good question.

    As far as you having 2 audio cards, this is a common mistake. That unimodem driver is actually for yoru voice modem and does the decoding to make little blips and bleeps into 1's and 0's. That C-media driver is your actual sound card.

    What motherboard are you running? Guessing from the C-media driver, Im going to assume that your sound card is onboard. With most on-board cards, when you activate and properly connect the front audio connectors it disables the rear audio inputs. Keep in mind I said MOST. The most logical explination of why nothing will work on the front audio inputs is that they were improperly connected. This is very common because front audio is sometimes very confusing. You must remove the jumpers that have been set on them to deactivate them as well as get every last cable hooked up right. And since motherboard companies and case manufacturers have yet to agree on a stardard for cabling for front audio (will they ever agree on anything?), sometimes the cables that yoru case provides will not work on your motherboard of choice. Hope this helps.
     
  3. faque

    faque Private E-2

    Thanks for responding, trespasser.

    Please bear with my naivety - I'm learning as I go here. I am not sure about what motherboard I have, but the manufacturer is Medion. I have yet to venture inside the coomputer yet, as I am hoping that I'm only a click or two away from getting this working. BUt other posts have also mentioned the physical connection of the ports to the motherboard, so I may need to get in there and look (though not without some help from Major Geeks - I've installed DVD drives, RAM, and an ethernet card, so I'm not unfamiliar with what's under the hood. But I want to make sure to do it right on my brand-spanking new, I-m-now-heavily-in-debt computer!)
     
  4. faque

    faque Private E-2

    An update -

    I got off the phone with Medion technical support (actually, they reffered me to Best Buy customer support since that is where I bought the computer), and they were absolutely no help. The agent had me open control panel to make sure the mic volume was up, and try to record something in Sound Recorder. It didn't work, so he advised me to bring the computer back to the store where I bought it. I asked him if it might just be some software issue, like a box isn't clicked in an options panel somewhere or something, since his diagnosis was rather prosaic at best, and he said to just bring it to the store.

    This is a big pain in the ass, if you ask me. I have this computer hooked up to two monitors, two different network cables, a printer, game controllers - the works. To have to disassemble it and bring it to the store is something I don't really want to do without exhausting my options here at home. So if anyone has any ideas, please let me know, as it will hopefully make things a little easier. Plus I'm lazy, and unhooking everything then hooking it back up is too much effort!

    I have also tried the back mic input, and it does not work, either, which leads me to believe that it is not the physical card but something in the software, though I certainly could be wrong. The mic works, as I tested it on a different recorder and everything is fine.

    Thanks again everybody.
     

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