Front panel audio

[humanoidal]

Hey! I'm using my hackintosh for a few months now, with working sleep and all, but what I find very irritating is the lack of front panel audio. Every time I want to use headphones I have to reach to the back of my machine. Is there a way to make it work?

I'm currently using the "Optimized AppleHDA for Realtek ALC 889 on Lion", but I'm running snow leopard on my Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2-B3 motherboard. The sound is great but only from the rear output. Any ideas how to fix it?

 

[toleda]

I'm currently using the "Optimized AppleHDA for Realtek ALC 889 on Lion", but I'm running snow leopard on my Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2-B3 motherboard. The sound is great but only from the rear output. Any ideas how to fix it?

What case are you using? Are you using HD Audio for the front audio connectors and BIOS? What happens when in System Preference/Sound/Output to Internal Speakers when you plug the Headphones in the front port?

 

[humanoidal]

The case is a local brand, you wouldn't know. Didn't find anything audio related in bios. The audio ports work fine under windows. When I connect headphones to the front nothing happens, no sound in them, speakers don't mute.

I always have Internal Speakers selected in system preferences, otherwise there is no sound at all.

 

[toleda]

The case is a local brand, you wouldn't know. Didn't find anything audio related in bios. The audio ports work fine under windows. When I connect headphones to the front nothing happens, no sound in them, speakers don't mute.

I always have Internal Speakers selected in system preferences, otherwise there is no sound at all.

If Internal Speakers does not change to Headphones, the codec/OS X doesn't sense the front ports on your case; no audio.

 

[humanoidal]

So what's wrong? Case? Motherboard? Kext?

 

[thelostswede]

Could be a combination of all of them.
Most important thing is that you have the HD audio and not AC'97 audio connector attached to the motherboard pin header.
If you don't have one of those, then you're out of luck.
If you do, then it's most likely a driver issue, but getting front audio working is a bit hit and miss. I have it working on my system, but it's very noisy (as in static noise) and it's really not worth using it unless you really really can't be arsed to plug things in at the back.

 

[humanoidal]

Most important thing is that you have the HD audio and not AC'97 audio connector attached to the motherboard pin header.

How do I tell? It's a standard 9 pin connector that supports headphones and mic minijacks.

Just checked the case specs and it says 1 x Headphones (HD audio) 1 x Microphone (HD audio) so I guess the case is allright.

I have the kext from this board, so it seems the motherboard doesn't support it under OSX

 

[thelostswede]

I would guess it's a DSDT issue, as you need to edit it specifically for front audio if I remember right and I don't think that's done in general, since it's not guaranteed to work. It was some time since I was messing around with the whole audio thing, so I can't say for sure.