Help: No Sound Out From Mb Headers Or Front Panel

DIY Win7-64, MSI Z170A MB, Intel i5-6600 cpu, 16Gb ram, Samsung 250Gb ssd, Zotac Gforce 1850 super video card, 700W PS

Problem: No sound out from either the MB back plain audio ports or from the audio port on the front of the case
History of Problem: after original build, audio worked as expected. After about a year I installed a Xonar-DSX audio card for an amateur radio application. After installing the audio card there was no sound out from the case front panel. Worked this over to the point of exhaustion. Briefly, the OS sound app showed that sound was being generated [the bar meter in the app up/down] but no sound out. Tried everything I could think of. The Xonar software also showed sound activity, but no sound out. Had to run a patch cord from the back of the computer out to the front where I plugged in the headphones. Sound OK with patch cord. Periodically tried to solve the problem. Then, I came across a check box somewhere in the software to ACTIVATE FRONT PANEL SPEAKERS. Checked the box and then had front panel sound. Happy! [I've never found this check box again]. Recently when I installed the Zotac video card, I moved the Xonar audio card down one slot to give the video card some breathing room. Afterwards, no sound from front audio jack. Tried everything again but with negative results. Somewhere along the way the REALTEK sound app disappeared from the control panel list [?]. I decided to return things to original configuration; took out the Xonar sound card and re-attached the front panel header line to the MB. Now, no sound out from either the back or front audio ports. Sound app continues to show activity, just no sound out. Looked everywhere and tried everything [re-flashed the BIOS, ran various diagnostic tools, various restore points, etc]. No sound front or back. OS sound app continues to show activity.

Sure would appreciated some help in whatever from -/. Thanks in advance.
...robert

 

i realize this reply is a day late and a dollar short, but since audio is not working as hoped, you could go into the device manager, delete all entries associated with audio and sound, and reboot your computer. windows should rediscover everything and then reinstall the needed drivers, and put those entries back into device manager.

or you can look at this post and see if it is similar to your situation:
https://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/47515-realtek-front-panel-audio-mic-not-recognised.html

or you could disable audio in the BIOS, and try out an external USB sound card, amazon has a ton of them:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-External-Sound-Cards/zgbs/pc/3015427011
or even an internal sound card:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers...-Computer-Internal-Sound-Cards/zgbs/pc/284823

i'm old and tired and if i can figure out a workaround to a problem, then that's good enough for me. over the years, i've banged my head against other mysterious computer problems, sometimes i have found obscure posts that actually addressed my problem, other times i figured out how to work around the issue at hand, and other times i just gave up and did without. in any event, good luck with it!!